Nine-year-old Hove actor Ronan makes his professional debut in The Little Prince

Artistic director Clara Bes said: “Spanish-based theatre company The Amateurs spent nearly a week auditioning for the leading role, seeing candidates from England, Scotland and The Netherlands. Ronan, who is half-British, half-South African, takes acting, singing and dancing lessons at The Theatre Workshop and is fully committed to living a life onstage as an actor and also as a director.

“A Little Prince will be his professional debut that will see him performing for nearly an hour and a half, dancing and singing eight of the show’s 10 songs.

“Ronan loves blues and Spanish music, sushi, and his favourite book is Roald Dahl’s Matilda. His dream is to be part of a company that tours a show around the world, so that he can do what he loves most: acting and travelling.”

Clara added: “Written in 1943, The Little Prince is one of the top three bestselling novels of all time and tells a poetic tale of a pilot stranded in the Sahara desert, whose meeting with a young boy coming from the Asteroid B612 will change the course of his life. It has been adapted for the stage by Ivan Andrade —who also directs the show— and scored by multi-award-winning jazz musician Marco Mezquida.”

Ivan said: “When you cast a boy for a role – especially one like the Little Prince – what you are really looking for is a real Little Prince: someone with that kind of purity and innocence, yet strong and confident to say the truth no matter what, in front of anyone.

“That’s what the Little Prince will bring to Earth when he visits us: a clear and straightforward view of what is. And that’s what Ronan brought into the room when he auditioned for us: the wisdom of sincerity.”

Find out more at www.theamateurscompany.com.

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