Prince Pipsqueak: Great Visual Entertainment For Kids at Holden Street Theatres – Adelaide Fringe Review

Holden Street Theatres – The Studio, Sun 21 Feb Prince Pipsqueak is a coming of age show to suit young children, and given the incredible diversity of visual entertainments available to kids these days – be assured that live theatre on the stage still holds a child’s interest. Our little Mr Six-months was woken by the audience after the narrator encouraged them to give an ‘even louder hello’ at the start of the show. From that point on, he was all eyes on the characters and the action on the stage! While there were three main players, two of these were ‘fixed’; our handsome Prince Pipsqueak (who preferred picking flowers to ordering people about), the Prince’s best friend, and the floating Narrator who played all of the other parts as required, the King, various people from the kingdom, the far more competent cousin, even the Fairy Godfather (and wasn’t he a riot, cross dressing between fairy and the mafia godfather!). The writing is tight, the set is modest but perfectly adequate, the characters are believable and they do a great job of delivering the play and connecting with the audience. The plot makes a positive point without being moralistic. Both the writing and the players have remembered to sprinkle a few titbits especially for the grown-ups in the audience. After the show the players were available for the audience to talk and interact, at which point many of the kids, no matter how involved in the show itself, became quite shy. All together this was fun theatre and little Ms Three and little Mr Five both thoroughly enjoyed it (as did Mum and Grandad). However, I’m still amazed at how interested Mr Six-months-old was with what was happening on that stage! Clayton Werner Prince Pipsqueak continues at Holden Street Theatres – The Studio, at various times, until Sun 13 Mar. Book at FringeTIX on 1300 621 255 or adelaidefringe.com.au. Click HERE to purchase your tickets.