Turkish ‘Bitiyatro’ in cooperation with the German
‘Theater an der Ruhr’ at the 11th Cyprus Theatre Festival
By Heidi Trautmann
“Goodbye”, said the fox. “…and now here is my secret,
a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what
is essential is invisible to the eye.”
It is about love and friendship, it is about life and
death, it is about the essence of our existence. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is an
unforgettable book from my childhood and school years when I had to read it in
the original language in French and take the text apart into its philosophical
details.
In the performance on 21 September at the Atatürk
Conference Theatre of the Near East University the Little Prince wasn't
portrayed by a little boy but by a grown man who prepares for his last voyage and
gets involved into discussions with a young pilot who crashed with his plane
where he lay asleep drunk.
In this production Roberto Ciulli, the director and
founder of ‘Theater an der Ruhr’ transforms the tale's original sweetness into
bitter-sweet lucidity. The play is stripped down to the essentials of the book,
its philosophy, also the stage setting with the spot light on a circle in the middle
of nowhere, with nothing but the symbols; the protagonists… clownesque with
pantomimic expressions exaggerating the situation of the reversed game of
questions and answers about important things in life. The play, a one-act play, returning
to the essence of the theatre, that is acting, creating an atmosphere.
The ‘Theater
and der Ruhr’ has travelled with this production around Europe meeting with
amazement and delight, and in Turkey it has
found a good partner in the ‘Bitiyatro’ Istanbul with the two wonderful actors Nihat Ileri and Laçin Ceylan in the parts of the pilot and the Little
Prince/Old Man.
When I came home after the show, still under the
impression of the touching play, I took the little book by St.Exépury from my
bookshelves and started reading it, however,
the first evening I did not get further than the dedication the author
wrote because it made me think about my life and how I began it.
TO LEON WERTH
I ask the indulgence of the children who may read this
book for dedicating it to a grown-up. I have a serious reason: he is the best
friend I have in the world. I have another reason: this grown-up understands
everything, even books about children. I have a third reason: he lives in
France where he is hungry and cold. He needs cheering up. If all these reasons
are not enough, I will dedicate the book to the child from whom this grown-up
grew. All grown-ups were once children--although few of them remember it. And
so I correct my dedication:
TO LEON WERTH
WHEN HE WAS A LITTLE BOY
If you also want to reread this precious little book,
I found a very nice link to the English version with the illustrations by the
author.
http://roman-hartmann.de/Prinz_en/html/chapter_2.html