Les Petits Theatre Company

Les Petits Theatre Company born in September 2013 was established to inspire, enthuse, entertain and delight young audiences.

Les Petits Theatre Company was created and is run by the producers of Les Enfants
Terribles Theatre Company, James Seager and Oliver Lansley along with the director of Creative Acts Ltd, Nicole Lewis.

The Les Petits team have worked alongside each other for over nine years in different capacities relating to the work of Les Enfants Terribles.

Les Petits parents . . .

Les Enfants Terribles Theatre Company was formed in 2002 by published playwright, television writer and acclaimed performer Lansley and today is run by both himself as Artistic Director and James Seager, the company’s lead producer.

The company is at the heart of cutting edge, imaginative theatre and is highly regarded within the industry having toured worldwide, won many awards and received constant critical acclaim. (For more information please see LET company history, awards and reviews) In 2013 LET will tour their new show to over 50 venues around the UK and have established links with hundreds of theatres across the country and beyond; performing work as far afield as Singapore, Australia, Norway, Poland, Czech Republic and Dubai.

LET has grown over the last 10 years from a small start to having a large network of associates employed on a freelance basis. There are a number of people who also contribute in an in kind capacity. These include mentors such as Imogen Kinchen, senior producer at the Lyric Hammersmith, Jessica Cooper, Literary agent at Curtis Brown and Tania Harrison, Curator of Latitude Festival. We aim to utilise these and other contacts within Les Petits Theatre Company drawing on their collective experience to help us create a show that is of the highest quality and one of the best touring children’s production around.

Les Petits first steps . . .

Following in its parent's footsteps, Les Petits Theatre company will draw upon LET’s successful use of diverse and varied styles of theatrical practice – live music, puppeteers, physical theatre, poetry and creative design to create an extra special piece of theatre. We aim to produce high quality theatre productions that encourage parents to bring their children to experience the excitement and wonder of live theatre.

Whilst inspiring children we also intend to inspire adults, as they see how engaged their children become when they are drawn into a world of imagination. We want our shows to be an enriching experience that will impact positively on a child's development: An experience that both child and parent will never forget. In short, we aim for Les Petits Theatre Company to create brilliant theatre for an often overlooked audience.

Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs -

'To create you must first be inspired. . . '

When we originally embarked upon the daunting task of deciding what should be Les Petits premiere show, we found one of the books on our list inspired more excitement, discussion and ideas than any other. . .

"Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs! " just seemed to carry with it the spirit of what the company wanted to do.

Nicole was first introduced to Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs at The Acorn Nursery (Captain Stubble's ship! ), where she has been a drama practitioner since 2004. Passionate about Captain Flinn's adventure, Nicole introduced the story to Oliver and James who both agreed it is exactly the sort of children's literature that we were looking for. It is a fantastic adventure that we feel we can really bring to life on the stage.

Creating loveable characters, like Flinn and Captain Stubble to carry the audience into the imaginary world, as we sail away to rescue the Acorn from the scary, (then not so scary! ) Pirate Dinosaurs.

We intend to keep as much of the original text as possible and create some unique, swash-buckling songs, along with a simple yet beautiful and surprisingly multifunctional set. These are the starting points for Les Petits' maiden voyage of theatre creation, with of course, our LET parents to guide Les Petits through the
stormy waters!