Eliane Morel is ‘Madame d’Aulnoy’ speaking to us from her 19th century Parisian salon. This very timely one woman show, gives reimagined narratives to the well known children’s fables of our childhood. Written and performed by Morel, in a witty, musical and contemporaneous way, the play brings these fables into the 21st century reality that we now live in. To be clear this is for an audience of 16+, not for children.
The children’s books we grew up with in the eighties might now be considered too dark for the children of the 21st century even in their original format. Back then we watched the fairytale wedding of Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew in 1986, as if it was Cinderella marrying her Prince Charming.
This play cleverly dispels the myths of a lot of these fairytales with modern twists with Morell playing all the characters with a feminist touch. Whether it was intended or not, the Cinderella story is told from the perspective of a disgruntled stepsister that reminds me of Samantha Markle’s ramblings about her half-sister on GMB.
There is a #metoo version of “sleeping beauty” fable where we see it through the eyes of a sleeping girl being molested by a prince.
Watching this play with the backdrop of the Ukrainian invasion makes me reimagine “The big bad wolf” as Putin where the West initially embraced and welcomed him in.
The backgrounds and animations really bring this performance to life with a truly theatrical feel that is refreshing for a digital format.
