A mouse with the heart of a man

Kids' classics make for more than well-stocked bookshelves Ð they also make for great theatre, because the two mediums have something in common: the best stories, and the best plays, start with a simple idea and tell it simply. For that reason, 'Stuart Little' is children's theatre for grown-ups.

Feature by Julie Balazs | 16 May 2006
Stuart Little is the eponymous hero of a classic of children's literature and the animated star of a hugely successful film series. He's really rather famous by mouse standards, perhaps second only to Mickey, so it's rather odd to think that his creator EB White never said outright that he was a mouse. The novel begins, "When Mrs. Frederick C. Little's second son arrived, everybody noticed that he was not much bigger than a mouse", and then proceeds to describe Stuart's mouse-like appearance and behaviour. But whether 'arrived' means 'was born to' or 'was adopted' is open-ended, and it's only Garth Williams's gorgeous illustrations that definitively determined Stuart's species in the imaginations of young readers. A hugely successful film version with Michael J. Fox as the voice of Stuart introduced him to another generation of kids and ensured that Stuart Little will continue to enchant children. And now the book has been adapted for the stage.

The first of White's three novels, 'Stuart Little' is one of the great classics of children's literature. And kids' classics make for more than well-stocked bookshelves – they also make for great theatre, because the two mediums have something in common: the best stories, and the best plays, start with a simple idea and tell it simply. Considering the run of kid-lit-inspired productions to grace Scottish stages this season ('The Wolves in the Walls', 'Hansel and Gretel' and 'The Jungle Book', to name a few), it's certainly enjoying a surge of popularity.

It's true that as theatre goes, 'Stuart Little' is hardly pushing the envelope: there's no sex, drugs or rock'n'roll here. And it does feature talking animals and a tiny human-esque mouse on an adventure, which is almost exclusively the domain of kid stuff. However, it's worth your time, even if you don't have a child in tow. The character of Stuart is arguably based on EB White himself, making this one of the most unusual autobiographical works in history.

A noted essayist, White was a very shy, polite, mouse-like man, so terrified of facing groups of unknown people that when asked to speak in public he often wrote a speech and asked someone else to read it. Stuart is similarly well mannered, thoughtful, and on the shy side; it is astoundingly appropriate that White wrote a book from a mouse's perspective, particularly one who goes on to do great things despite his shyness. In this production, Stuart is a large puppet operated by a puppeteer whose constant visibility makes him a shadow character – the adult inside Stuart is a physical presence onstage. The comparison to White could not be clearer, but it's a subtlety of puppeteering that is lost on children
Stuart Little plays at the King's Theatre, Glasgow, from 2-6 May. Visit www.stuartlittlelive.com for a trailer.