Animation - co-created with children & Lizzy Hobbs - what I like about this is seeing the excited children's heads bobbing up and down in the bottom of the frame... as they see their work for the first time

Toby Thompson's The Little Prince, produced by The Egg Theatre, Bath

The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is the most translated book (excluding the Bible). Translated into over 600 languages, it wins this competition by quite some way – with Grimms, Alice in Wonderland, Pinnochio & Marx translated into around 200 languages. And there are many adaptations into many different mediums, the latest big budget ‘80-year commemoration production’ touring the world tells the story with song, dance and a massive cast; so a production as this one, telling the story with a single performer in one hour, left much to the imagination of the audience.

The choice of a single performer was a good one and the choice of Toby Thompson is a perfect fit. One that chimes with excellent theatre for young and active imaginations. That it worked for young audiences was clear by the way young voices called out to fill in essential elements/questions in the story. It also worked for this adult, I was able to lose myself in the depths of a multi-layered story on a flat Thursday morning. And to remember in the words of the original, that all grown-ups once were children and “it is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what's essential is invisible to the eye.” So how did performance poet Toby manage to do this so well. Here are some of the bits I remember… He is confident in setting up and then with moving between the different layers of story within story… moving between playing the piano and addressing us with a question, “How shall I begin? Once upon a time?... then do I have to end with ‘happily ever after?” We, the audience, are already complicit in how the story will be told and we can follow between Toby, as narrator, the pilot aged 6, the pilot as an adult, the character of the Little Prince, the multiple characters in the stories that the Little Prince tells. He pin points precisely that dynamic between child and grown up, the thread that binds the different layers of story together. "Grown-ups love figures… When you tell them you’ve made a new friend they never ask you any questions about essential matters. They never say to you “What does his voice sound like? What games does he love best? Does he collect butterflies? “ Instead they demand ‘How old is he? How much does he weigh? How much money does his father make?’ Only from these figures do they think they have learned anything about him."

He includes many of the Little Prince’s encounters with different characters, through a relaxed transformation between each vignette; the king with no subjects, the conceited man who wants selfies and followers/friends, the businessman who must count everything (because if it can be counted it can be managed). In keeping the tone simple, and avoiding too many actorly acrobatics, it means his narrator character stays closer to us, the audience, and we stay closer to the story. Toby’s telling of the story is well supported by a creative team responsible for the set, the music and the projection. Little steps of beautiful poetry move the story along, grains of sands portraying the multitude of stars, a secret written down and hidden in a shell, water hidden in a planet to save the pilot’s life, the big blue heart at the start, the flight of birds projected flying the little prince away… Not all the characters are included, the snake is a notable omission, making the ending ‘happier’ - but that doesn’t mean we don’t get there without feelings of loss and sadness. The character of The Rose is simpler than in the book, but the production still lands this key relationship in which the Little Prince struggles to love his Rose. And how he learns from the fox about the nature of friendship… “if you tame me, then we shall need each other. To me, you will be unique in all the world. To you, I shall be unique in all the world....”

“People have forgotten this truth," the fox said. "But you mustn’t forget it. You become responsible forever for what you’ve tamed. You’re responsible for your rose.” The text of the original book mixes with Toby’s own poetry seamlessly, he owns both and finds his way through the different layers of story with confidence. In one beautiful moment, he connects a sigh and his breath to a text about sadness. And at the end The Pilot/Narrator challenges us the audience to take on the sadness of a bleak ending. He proposes that the story is false, that it never existed, that we’re stupid to believe in these things and he exits the stage. This is a powerful theatrical moment, all the characters have left, the stage is empty, we are let down, disappointed, hopes dashed and left facing the silence of ourselves and the illusion of theatre, dreams and the imagination. However, Toby’s return as the Little Prince is perfectly timed to catch us from that barren moment. “What?” the Little Prince insists, “You don’t believe?” And he gives us, children and grown-ups alike, the hope of imagination and the possibility of seeing with the heart.

Involving children & young people in the arts - presentation for #BrightGenerations Assitej Artistic Gathering 2025

I was invited to speak on a panel at the Bright Generations Artistic Gathering on how we can involve children and young people in artisitc creation. Here are some of the questions we discussed. What deeply motivates you in involving children and Young people in your projects? Is it an artistic or a political action? Is it a widespread approach in your country? Or is it innovative? What status do children and Young people have in your projects? What more do they bring to the table compared to adults in the creative process? In your opinion, from the perspective of the children, their parents and their communities: What difficulties, fears and doubts did they encounter in these projects? What joys, what meaning, what beneficial changes did they gain from this experience? What have been the greatest challenges or frustrations and the greatest joys for you as a creative artist in these projects? What matters most? The experience, the creative process, or the final work? Can you have high standards in all the different areas? Can we create today for young audiences without young people ?

Some key elements of how we create an authentic artistic experience from my practice of story-writing are to give children: - authority to write a story as a singular author - freedom of their imagination - agency to use their story to make change And one of the key outcomes of involving children from schools is that when we make a community performance we connect across the range of the community (not just segments), because all families go to school. And we are experiencing the live performance with the children as collaborators/accomplices. Dominique Bérody spoke about how this impacts on the reception of the show - something changes, a democratisation with a different type of aesthetics and more plural, non-hierarchical relationship to audiences. The session was moderated by Séverine Coulon and Céline Garnavault; With the artists Zoë Demoustier, Cie Ultima Vez (Belgium), Sue Giles (Australia) and Michael Judge, New International Encounter Theatre (UK). Keynote speakers: Dominique Bérody, artistic consultant and Sylvia Girel, sociologist. An example of working with children and with objects from a Museum to make a show in Fenland.

Marseille - City of Grafitti

The city embraces public art, self-expression and hip-hop culture

Top 3 Shows of Assitej 2025 - in no particular order...(and I didn't see them all)

1. Harold: The Game An analysis of the Bayeux Tapestry and its depiction of the Battle of Hastings from both the French and the English points of view. Audience on 4 sides, a game show format which descended into a Rugby match complete with bags of earth and a projection of the tapestry itself on the screens above the audiences heads. Where was the tapestry made? Canterbury or Bayeux? Is it in fact an embroidery, not tapestry? The battle for the truth was played out by six grown men with some bias towards the French - 5 to 1. A French collaboration between Bob Théâtre and Vélo Théâtre based on an original idea by Rina Vergano, The Egg Theatre in Bath (GB), this spectacle was much enjoyed by the young audience and, with a pile of bodies in the earth at the end, provoked reflection on the futility of warring nationalism, not just between the French and the English.

Penguin A funny, moving story of a journey from Syrian refugee camp to Gateshead. Performed and co-created by Hamzeh Al Hussien · Directed and co-created by Amy Golding. The simplicity of the telling gave direct engagement with the performer making the story more powerful.

L'Oiseau (Bird) - La POLKa, Anne Noziere. When Mustafa loses his father he connects with Pamela his classmate who has lost her dog. Its actually a light, funny poetic piece - more than this opening scenario might intimate. These two characters meet little Francou who can commune with the 'other side', the dead. This is acheived with such widespread success from those who have lost loved ones... that the headteacher is alarmed and call a meeting for the parents at the school, "Its serious - she says - its a situation that I cannnot speak about in front of the children...I must speak to you in English." And there it is. The inability of adults to speak about death. The children take control and, in a section projected on film, we see the funeral cavalcade, and the children driving and the cars and stepping out to dance around the grave. One caveat - why only 2 white actors telling the story of Mustafa who clearly is not white?

Friche la Belle de Mai - What an exciting venue for #BrightGenerations Assitej Artistic Gathering 2025

A converted Tobacco Factory with 5 performance spaces, a skate park, library, garden, roof terrace and multiple other spaces for cultural activity. France repurposes architecture very well.

Assitej Awards for people from UK - Lifetime Achievement Award for Vicky Ireland & Emerging Scholars Award for Dr. Kitty Morley

Vicky Ireland was a member of the first Theatre- in-Education team at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry and started the charity Action for Children’s Arts in 1989, and she co-founded the International Inclusive Arts Network with Daryl Beeton in 2011. Dr. Katherine Morley is an associate researcher at the University of Manchester, UK and researcher in residence at The Egg, Royal Theatre Bath. Katherine recently contributed to Mapping Research: A map on the aesthetics of performing arts for early years.