Theatre

Presented as a semi-staged musical of existing Christmas carols, new compositions and re-arranged songs, “The Happy Prince and The Other Wiseman” weaves the story of Oscar Wilde’s “The Happy Prince” and Henry Van Dyke’s “The Other Wiseman” together, with the respective protagonists, the Happy Prince and the Magus Artaban, echoing each other’s selfless sacrifices in their compassionate acts towards the needy. The show uses a form of storytelling in which the Happy Prince’s story is told in reverse chronological order (beginning with the angels bringing the broken lead heart of the Happy Prince and the dead body of the swallow as the most precious things on earth to God), and Artaban the Wiseman’s story told in chronological order (starting when the Magus sees the signs in the sky and starts searching for the new-born Messiah). The characters of the two stories do not directly interact but are linked by the same jewels that are given up in their generous acts.