As a child I loved reading Oscar Wilde’s fairytales and The Happy Prince became embedded into my psyche. I have been adapting the story for the musical stage, and I hope you don’t think it too self indulgent that as I sign off, I share a song from it here with you. Well, I guess it’s a big part of who I am and what I do.

Here in the story, the Statue of a Prince tells a Swallow (his new friend) of his enchanted childhood in the Palace of Sans Souci, where a lofty wall shielded him from the cares of the outside world. The Prince explains that when he died, his courtiers set him up on a plinth so high that he could see over the wall and witnesses the suffering and poverty of his city.

I beg you to read the fairytale if you haven’t read it as you are in for a treat.