“He’s wearing a dress!” shouted a young audience member during a performance of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic children’s tale at the Omnibus Theatre in Clapham.

In the festive season, many parents struggle to find ways to keep their excited children occupied but the Omnibus theatre offers a quirky adaptation of Saint- Exupéry’s beloved French children’s novella The Little Prince as an alternative to the classic Christmas pantomime.

Advertised for children ages 4-104, the Omnibus Theatre staff hope that anyone of any age or generation can enjoy a timeless story of friendship and acceptance.

Omnibus Theatre’s publicity manager, Diana Whitehead, told South London Lines the idea for the show came from one of the staff when they were brainstorming ideas for a new Christmas show. Whitehead said that the theatre wanted to “break the pantomime mould at Christmas by reimagining classic stories from everyone’s childhood.”

With regards to swapping the genders of the characters, Whitehead said: “It was a conscious decision and in the book they never specify the genders of the characters so we left them ambiguous, the kids don’t care anyway.

“The most important thing is that they take away that feeling of Christmas and know how important the power of friendship is.”

The classic French children’s book features a little prince who visits different planets to find out about the themes of loneliness, friendship, love, and loss.

In the Omnibus theatre production, it features a three-person cast playing multiple characters. The actors generally play more ‘gender-swapped’ characters so the little prince is played by a woman and the character of the pilot whom the little prince met in the Sahara Desert is also played by a woman as well as the character who is loosely based on the first French resistance fighter pilot, Élisabeth Boselli.

The play stars a classic pantomime dame who is loosely based on a RuPaul style drag queen and a fox character who goes down very well with a younger audience.

The theatre itself was founded only two years ago from a library but it has already been known for trying to tell stories in a new and quirky way. People behind the theatre describe their vision on its website: “We are driven by the legacy of our former library building to tell stories, familiar and unknown, in South London and beyond.

“Our mission is to create theatre that has the power to inspire audiences, to change minds, to bring us together.”

The theatre is entirely self-funded and has won awards for their productions by reimagining classic tales. They take pride in offering an affordable alternative to other mainstream West End productions which include the off-brand fringe-style made popular by the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

The theatre company won an Off West-End Theatre award in 2018 for a production of ‘Zeraffa Giraffa’ and are hoping to win again with their newest production.

They have also been recognised for their work at Edinburgh fringe as well as time out magazine’s best Christmas family shows and shows for children under the age of seven in 2019.

The play is running between December 4-30. Tickets are still available to catch the show during the festive season.