Anyone who enjoys gardening knows the pleasure of getting amongst the plants and making them grow but also the disappointment when they don’t. This is Prince Geranium’s dilemma in KidzStuff Theatre for Children’s school holiday show The Princess and the Pea.With great enthusiasm Prince Geranium (Andrew Clarke) gets the young audience to help him with lots actions, planting, watering and growing his veges.  But the garden really is a sorry sight with nothing growing until Daphne the Garden Fairy (Sabrina Martin) comes along to help. 

Meantime the Queen (Maria Williams) is getting annoyed that the Prince is spending more time in the garden than trying to decide on a wife among all the many girls lining up to meet him.  She devises the Pea Sensitivity Test, PST, which involves a pea under the mattress to find the right girl; whoever can’t sleep because of the discomfort of the pea must be a loving and caring person and the right one for the Prince.  Also in the mix is Doug Deeply (Simon Haren) an intrepid TV reporter looking for an undercover scoop [More]

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Having a princess-mad four year-old in my house, fairy tales are regular reading favourites and there is often much discussion about the characters, especially about why there is always some sort of villain character (except, as she pointed out, in the ‘Elves and the Shoemaker’) that is either bossy, mean, hurtful, greedy or jealous of other characters. 

So before coming to this show today, we read the traditional Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale of The Princess and the Pea so she and her younger brother know the basic premise from which this Kidzstuff story, cleverly adapted by Rob Ormsby, is based.

An excited audience sits ready and waiting, the slight delay gets them wiggling a little but as soon as Prince Geranium Topsoil (Andrew Clarke) makes his energetic entrance and engages them with Happy Hellos and gardening actions to a bit of Vivaldi, they are hooked.

The story goes that it is time for the prince to marry, but he is more interested in looking after his garden which at this moment is very sick and not growing even though he has watered, weeded and whistled. 

The classic “He’s behind you!” style pantomime hilarity ensues when his mother – the Queen (Maria Williams) – comes to find him with some of the audience telling her where he is hiding and others sending her off down the garden path. 

Meanwhile a tabloid journalist with the apt name Doug Deeply (Simon Haren), disguises himself to infiltrate the palace to get the scoop on any royal scandal or intrigue. 

Eventually the Queen catches up with her son and tells him about the PST – Pea Sensitivity Test – to prove a princess is genuine, caring, honest and sensitive. A troubadour style song ‘500 Princesses in the Palace’ with sneaky wedding march references is beautifully sung by tenor Andrew Clarke – unfortunately no credit to who composed the music in the play is given in the programme. 

The plot thickens with the arrival of a scheming Witch (Maria Williams) and Daphne, the gumboot wearing garden fairy (Sabrina Martin) resulting in wands at dawn (cue spaghetti western music).

Directed by Jonathan Price, the pace is excellent, the scripted and ad-libbed dialogue flow together and the audience plays its part with great enthusiasm. The music (lovely singing from Sabrina Martin too, particularly in the ‘Garden Lullaby’ song), sound effects and lighting add the necessary layers for a great show with excellent timing between the actors and technician James Ruscoe.

I particularly love that there isn’t a pink princess to be seen and that the prince gets to choose his bride based on the heart and common interests in spite of his mother’s reservations. 

The set depicts the story well with just a few props and even though the costuming is an interesting mix of eras they work with the strong and definite characters portrayals. 

KidzStuff Theatre have a long and successful history for these types of updated fairytale plays and today’s performance lives up to this tradition in its slick delivery with all the right ingredients mixed together for a fun hour’s entertainment.

My two laugh and call out with gusto and the verdict of a four year-old? “I loved all of it Mum, it was funny” then regaling the story and characters again. And the two year- old? “One fairy and the other fairy, why the witch in there as well?” 

I also over hear an adult saying “What a brilliant show” with a huge grin on her face which gives a very good indication that they have got the recipe right for everyone – whatever their age. 

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