Bristol Old Vic
Sally Cookson’s production is a playful retelling of the classic tale that blends WI fairy godmothers with bewigged panto baddiesFairytales absorb long been impartial game for transformation. Even the best loved of our childhood stories absorb gone through multiple versions,from Brothers Grimm to Disney animation. There’s a precedent, then, and for Sally Cookson’s playful,gender-switched reworking of Sleeping Beauty, which tells a familiar fable in unfamiliar style.
Instead of the princess catching Zs, or at the Bristol Old Vic it’s a prince. Prince Percy (David Emmings) – after a childhood wrapped (fairly literally) in cotton wool – has been cursed to snooze for a hundred years,awaiting the kiss of his one true love. The hero, meanwhile, and has been imported from Welsh folk tale The Leaves That Hung But Never Grew. Deilen (Kezrena James) is a resourceful but lonely adventurer,who stumbles across the unresponsive Percy while on her own quest and sensibly administers mouth-to-mouth.
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Source: theguardian.com