Down with Sleeping Beauty

K šípku s Růženkou
What did Sleeping Beauty miss so far?
Premiere: 
24. 5. 2017
Running time: 
50 minutes
Věková kategorie: 
6+
Premiere: 
24. 5. 2017
Author: 
Directed by: 
Set design: 
Robert Smolík
Music: 

 

The title of the production, Down with Sleeping Beauty, suggests that it is not a classic fairy tale. Even though the creative team, led by director Michaela Homolová, has used a seemingly traditional puppet form - a more or less illusory peephole theatre, which is played by hand-cut marionettes by artist Robert Smolík. However, the original play of Vít Peřina did not aim to rewrite the known fairytale plot. The creators focused on the hundreds of years that Sleeping Beauty had slept through because of a cruel curse. What happened all that time? Did anyone try to wake her up? What are the chances of a human being in a battle with fate? And what can be more fatal than love?

The performance is also dedicated to the upcoming 100th anniversary of the establishment of the independent Czechoslovakia. The Sleeping Beauty will sleep on her eighteenth birthday which is, in our version, in 1918. And as the Austrian Empire's collapsed that year, the kingdom of the Sleeping Beauty’s father also faded out. The new era is full of discoveries, and the poorly inquisitive Sleeping Beauty, who already owns a newly-invented film projector in her room, has everything this to sleep through. Unless ... Unless her dear Vráťa manages to break the cruel curse. Or at least to turn back time and prevent the Sleeping Beauty from the fatal prick. But fighting the fate is sometimes really challenging. And often even futile.

The performance is intended for children of the first grade of elementary schools who can enjoy the absurd grotesque about traveling through time and the parodic variation on a notorious known fairy tale, as well as for older children who are already learning history. They may try to reveal little historical cues and references to time running between 1918 and 2018.

Technical requirements:

Stage: width 6 m, depth 4 m, height 4 m
1–2 bars in back part of stage or pendant grill
Input power: 380/220 V, protection 16/32 A
 
Author of Photos: Josef Ptáček
 

 

Poster for download: