In a new, modern version of the fairytale “Sleeping Beauty,” the sleeping beauty is a prince, the girl is the heroine, and the fairy godmothers are replaced with the “wise members of the Women’s Institute.”
“Sleeping Beauty,” running at Bristol Old Vic in the United Kingdom from Nov. 27-Jan. 17, makes the classic tale “brought bang up to date.”
The director of the play, Sally Cookson, told The Guardian, “What we wanted was a proactive, feisty heroine. Many of these earlier versions were recorded by men, so had heroines who were really so passive it is just not healthy.”
“Our fairytale heroine is able to save herself and other people along the way. Both the hero and the heroine in our story can be vulnerable and brave. We don’t pigeonhole them, although our prince, Percy, has been rather pampered and protected.”
Instead, in this version of “Sleeping Beauty,” Prince Percy—who is awaken by the heroin Deylan—is the “passive” one.
On detractors, Cookson said, “I am sorry if there might be some children or, more likely, parents who think that is not how it is meant to be.”
“But every time a fairytale is retold we cannot help but adapt it in line with our ideology, regardless of whether that is a conscious plan."