Current Productions

Sleeping Beauty is a British-style pantomime, written especially for the International Players. For those who have never encountered this very special genre, the British pantomime – although it has its roots in the commedia dell’arte which involved mime – has nothing to do with a mime show. It is a musical comedy based on a traditional folk story or fairy tale, aimed at both children and adults, with a great deal of silly jokes as well as audience participation, including “singalong” songs the audience can join in. There are also certain conventions, notably that the leading male role – the “principal boy” – is played by a woman and there is always a “dame” – a comic female character played by a man. Pantomimes have been popular for over 150 years and are still played in over half the theatres in Britain during the Christmas season.

The skeleton of our version of story keeps fairly closely to the Brothers Grimm version: a King omits to invite a certain fairy to the christening of his daughter; furious, the fairy puts a curse on the princess saying that she will die when she pricks her finger on a spinning wheel, but another fairy commutes the curse to a 100-year coma which includes everyone in the palace. An impenetrable forest grows up around the palace, hiding it from view until, 100 years later, a prince arrives at the opportune moment and discovers it. He wakes the princess with a kiss, life returns to the palace, he marries her, and they live happily ever after.