The play is based on the worldwide well-known book "The Little Prince" by the director Šarūnas Datenis, who is famous for his original theatrical quests. This is the first work of the young developer and his creative team in Šiauliai. The premiere of "The Little Prince" is aimed at young viewers from the age of six, but it should be equally interesting for anyone who has read and loved this work of Antoine de Saint-Exupery for a lifetime.
"The Little Prince" is a philosophical fairy tale that mildly ironizes the "serious" world of adults that recognizes only numbers and rational beginnings. Here we are encouraged to look at the world with an open heart, we are talking about what is really important in this life - love, experience, friendship, responsibility. in 1943 the small novella that appeared - the allegorical tale "The Little Prince" - became one of the best-selling books in the world of all time. Plays, operas, animated and feature films are created according to it.
Presenting his production at the Šiauliai State Drama Theater, the director Š. Datenis claims that the play will look at the world of "The Little Prince" in a modern way, but the essential values declared in the book will remain the same - love, friendship, responsibility, the joy of communication. The director is convinced that children, as well as adults, should not forget that "you become forever responsible for what you tame."
The story of the friendship between an airplane pilot forced to land in the middle of the desert and a cute boy from another planet is equally fascinating to both children and adults: as Antoine de Saint-Exupery wrote in the dedication of the book, "all adults were children in the beginning." Anyone who has read this literary classic probably has their own vision of The Little Prince. Sh. Datenis admits that this choice is very binding: according to him, "The Little Prince" has become like the "Hamlet" of children's literature.
The creators of the play in Šiauliai are trying to open up the world of "The Little Prince" as if it were a human "cosmos", a mysterious space and at the same time an earthly place where the most important moments of knowing life happen. The role of the little prince was entrusted to actor Aidis Matučius. All the remaining characters: Pilot, Garbėroška, Drunkard, Lamplighter, Rose, Fox, Snake will be played by two actors - Dalius Jančiauskas and Monika Šaltytė. As usual for this creative team, the show is staged with special, almost precise attention to visual and musical solutions, and the acting style of the dramatic theater is complemented by elements of puppet and object theater.
The debut of director Š. Dateni's performance "Gaidelis pinigautojas", created together with illustrator Antanas Dubra, 2012. was awarded the Golden Cross of the Stage. Sh. Datenis has created several performances of an unusual genre: the film and puppet fairy tale "Girl with Matches", the magic and live music performance "Here was/here is not", science and art performance "Evolution". Sh. Datenis creates performances for children very responsibly, without naive infantilism, taking into account the expectations of the young audience. He boldly asserts that he wants to represent innovative theater: "Every time I try to create something that no one has created yet. It's scary to start repeating."
