The Thirteen Clocks kept fun time Friday night at the Arkansas Arts Center Children's Theatre in Little Rock.
The comic fantasy opened to an audience of about 150 children and adults. Well-timed to the coming of Valentine's Day, it ticked off 65 minutes of laughs, nonsense and something to say about the difficulties of true love.
Never too mushy, the show plays off any number of fairy tales. But the source is New Yorker writer and cartoonist James Thurber's 1950 novel about Princess Saralinda (Samantha Harrington), who lives with her evil uncle, the Duke (John Isner).
"She was warm," Thurber describes the princess, and Harrington plays her with red hair, orange gown and rose in hand, like a rose-scented candle.
But her uncle was cold, "even colder than he thought he was," roaring to induce the shivers. Isner thunders from out of costume designer Nikki Webster's most outlandish get-up, including a pirate's eye-patch. The princess clearly needs a prince to the rescue.
Enter Prince Zorn (Geoffrey Eggleston), whose task is a complicated impossibility of perfect timing in a place where, as Thurber has it, "time lies frozen." It looks that way, too, in Drew Posey's set design -- a castle of gear-like stairs and a clutter of clocks that don't work.
Mirth and mishap ensue under Bradley Anderson's direction, from Keith Smith's adaptation, with a 15-member cast of adult and young actors. Smith makes a smooth-talking appearance on stage, as well, in the role of the Hark, the narrator.
Aleigha Morton is the book's oddest character, the prince's right-hand gnome, called a Golux. Thurber specifies that the Golux wears an "indescribable" hat. But on this actress, it's more remarkable to say that she wears a beard.
Out to gather jewels, the Golux competes with Katie Campbell's ever-cackling witch at making off as well with some of the show's best scenes.
The Thirteen Clocks continues through Feb. 14. Show times are: Fridays, 7 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays, 2 p.m. More information is available at arkansasartscenter.org, or by calling (501) 372-4000.
Metro on 01/30/2016