The Little Prince

上周六在学校看了The Little Prince, 是theater major的同学演的. 舞台效果很缤纷很梦幻, 尤其是小王子来到地球前周游各个小星球的一段, 完全不枯燥, 编排得有趣又富有想象力. 舞台布景也颇有创意, 我虽然熟知小王子的情节, 但拉幕一瞬间, 也感到眼前一亮. 在舞台中央, 是一大张中间隆起的白纸, 既模拟出沙丘的起伏, 又便于飞行员(故事叙述者)在上面画画 -- 毕竟画在故事中也是很重要的一部分, 比如在盒子里的小羊, 蟒蛇肚子里的大象等等. 剧本保留了许多原著中的话, 虽然坐在后排的小朋友有些吵闹, 但触动人心的对白时时将我牵入剧中. 整出剧的气氛算不上欢乐, 但至少是略轻快的. 编剧似乎想让观众相信小王子最终脱离了他的肉身回到他的星球与玫瑰汇合了, 但我怎么也改变不了自己先入为主的想法, 在小狐狸和小王子道别时, 在小王子仰望星空感到满足时, 我悲伤极了.

'It's your own fault,' said the little prince. 'I never wished you any harm; but you wanted me to tame you...'
'I know,' said the fox.
'And now you are going to cry!' said the little prince.
'I know,' said the fox.
'So you have gained nothing from it at all!'
'Yes, I have gained something,' said the fox, 'because of the color of the corn.'

"As for my rose…she’s the one I’ve watered, she’s the one I’ve put under the glass globe. It’s for her that I’ve killed the caterpillars (except the two or three that we saved to become butterflies). I’ve listened to her  when she grumbled, or boasted, or even sometimes when she said nothing. She’s My Rose!"

"It is just as it is with the flower. If you love a flower that lives on a star, it is sweet to look at the sky at night. All the stars are a-bloom with flowers..."

"And at night you will look up at the stars. Where I live everything is so small that I cannot show you where my star is to be found. It is better, like that. My star will just be one of the stars, for you. And so you will love to watch all the stars in the heavens... they will all be your friends..."

"It will be as if, in place of the stars, I had given you a great number of little bells that knew how to laugh..."  

It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. L'essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well.