PRINCE BRAT and the Whipping Boy is a very funny, exciting, and good play. It is about a spoiled prince and a smart whipping boy. The two boys run away from the castle where they live to get away from all the horrible things there. In this play, at the beginning you would think it would be fun to live in a castle, but the play makes you realize it's better to live a normal life than a fancy life. The main characters are Cat Water and Hold-Your-Nose Billy (the villains), Whipping Boy, Prince Brat, Petunia (a bear) and Petunia's trainer, though I can't remember her name. My favorite part was when Prince Brat and Whipping Boy are in the forest and they are trying to escape the castle, because it was so exciting and thrilling. What is annoying about the play is that people dressed in black had to come out and take the props away, and it wasted time. The music in the play was very good. The pianist did a good job. The costumes were very good and detailed; they made the villains look raggedy, the people in the castle look nice, and they even made a show bear costume for Petunia, and a trainer-like costume for her trainer.

The funniest characters are Hold-Your-Nose Billy and Cat Water, who also have the funniest names. They try to catch Prince Brat and Whipping Boy to get their gold and jewels, and they also steal their good food and replace it with yucky food. Whipping Boy tries to trick these villains, but Prince Brat ruins it because he doesn't want to go back to the castle. Whipping Boy does want him to go back, so he can go to the city by himself and not have to drag along Prince Brat.

The reason why Prince Brat wants to leave the castle is that he is bored, and his father, the King, is paying no attention to him. I think that is a pretty dumb reason. Whipping Boy is leaving the castle because he is tired of all the whips he gets every day. In real life it wouldn't be good to have whipping boys, because they just get whipped for things other people did wrong. Whipping Boy gets so many whips every day because Prince Brat is always playing mean tricks on people and being bad.

Petunia the show bear helps them a lot, because when the two villains try to catch Prince Brat and Whipping Boy, she scares them away with her growl. Prince Brat and Whipping Boy help Petunia's trainer, because they tell her which way Petunia went when she can't find her. A lot of people work together in this play, like the two villains; Cat Water and Hold-Your-Nose Billy work together to catch the prince and Whipping Boy, who work together to escape the horrible castle life and the villains. Lastly there is Petunia and her trainer: They work together by trying to entertain people as best as they can. I don't think Prince Brat is a good prince, because he is afraid of rats, he can't even write his own name, and he is very spoiled. Princes are not supposed to be spoiled; they are supposed to be able to write their own names, and they shouldn't be afraid of rats. Princes should be brave. Whipping Boy is a good person, because he never yells or screams or cries when he gets whipped. Whipping Boy's real name is Jemmy, which is kind of a weird name.

It would be boring if just Prince Brat tried to escape, and not Whipping Boy, too. It would be better if there were a couple more characters in it, because there weren't that many. At the end, the prince and Whipping Boy go back to the castle and a lot of things change, but I don't want to give it away. I would give this play four stars out of five. Prince Brat and the Whipping Boy was the best play I've seen at Seattle Children's Theatre, and one of the best I've seen anywhere.