The Sleeping Beauty

The Red Brick Hall, Wellington

22/09/2007 - 06/10/2007

Production Details



Little Ellie is scared that she might go to sleep and not wake up for a hundred years like in the Sleeping Beauty DVD, till her father tells her the real story! In this delightful adaptation of the classic fairytale, princess Elinora finds out that princes are not all they’re cracked up to be and heroes can take the most surprising forms!

The meaning of true friendship is revealed in another entertaining holiday show from KidzStuff Theatre for Children.

Sarah Delahunty is a writer and director, who has had a long association with children’s theatre, having written and directed many children’s shows, including The Emperor’s New Clothes playstory series at Downstage, adaptations of Beauty and the Beast, Rumpelstiltskin, Snow White and Rose Red, Puss and Boots and The Gingerbread Man (KidzStuff 2006).

The fabulously talented and award winning director Rachel More has become hooked on children’s theatre and is back to direct her fourth KidzStuff production! Rachel’s directing credits include Up for Grabs (Downstage), This Lime Tree Bower (Circa 2004), Summer Shakespeare The Taming of The Shrew (2006), Under Milkwood (Downstage 2006), Backwards in High Heels (Circa 2007), most recently The Venetian Bride (BATS) and of course The Princess and the Pea (KidzStuff 2006), Jack and the Beanstalk and The Three Little Pigs (KidzStuff 2007).

The talented cast includes Robert Tripe, who has appeared in Troy the Musical and Yours Truly and most recently wrote and performed in The Venetian Bride at BATS, to rave reviews. Gene Alexander, who has toured the States with the National Theatre of Performing Arts and is also experienced in children’s theatre, having appeared in the last two KidzStuff shows, Jack and the Beanstalk and The Three Little Pigs. Heather O’Carroll, who has performed in The Country at Circa theatre for which she won the 2006 Chapman Tripp theatre award for Best Supporting Actress, The Shape of Things (Fortune) and last year forayed into children’s theatre for the first time in the The Witches (Fortune) and Jess Robinson, who has appeared in The Glass Menagerie and most recently The Dumb Show at Circa, but this is her first children’s theatre adventure!

Performance Times:
Monday – Friday 11 am and 1 pm
Saturdays at 11 am.

Tickets $10
Groups of 4+ $9.00 each
Groups of 10+ $8.00 each
With special prices for holiday programmes
Special Opening Preview 22 September $5.00 per ticket.

Bookings:  phone 385 0292


CAST
Ellie/ Queen/ Prince One/ Prince Two - HEATHER O'CARROLL
Dad/ King/ Birdie - GENE ALEXANDER
Isabel/ Princess Elinora - JESS ROBINSON
Gertrude/ Head Owl - ROBERT TRIPE

PRODUCTION
Set - RACHEL MORE/ DUSHKA BLAKELY
Lighting/ Sound operator - ROSIE OLSON
Production Manager - DUSHKA BLAKELY
Publicity - KARIN MELCHIOR
Graphic Design - CHARLOTTE OLIVER
Music - ROB ORMSBY
Front of House - FRITH ARMSTRONG


Theatre , Children’s , Family ,


40 minutes

Wacky holiday show for kids a beauty

Review by Laurie Atkinson [Reproduced with permission of Fairfax Media] 25th Sep 2007

It’s that time of year again and even though the dependable and perennial KidzStuff opened their latest holiday show on Saturday with a wacky Sleeping Beauty they are already announcing their next show for the 2008 Easter holidays.

Sarah Delahunty’s Sleeping Beauty has Ellie (Heather O’Carroll) refusing to go to bed until her dad (Gene Alexander) tells her a story and the story is of course all about Princess Elinora (Jess Robinson) who is pricked by a needle belonging to Gertrude (Robert Tripe) who has a grudge against everyone because she doesn’t get invited to parties, even though she describes herself as "the fairyest fairy in the land."

There’s a Marx Brothers’ madness about the show with two very odd princes, both played by Heather O’Carroll who is dressed as if she were appearing in Shakespeare, won’t kiss the sleeping princess awake much to the delight of Gertrude who claims that this is "a victory for the hairy chins."

An owl (Robert Tripe) eventually rescues the princess from a century of sleep.

It’s all played at a great clip with the King telling the trumpeters to trumpet every time he makes an announcement, while coconuts are used a la Monty Python for horsey sound effects, and a Head Owl (Robert Tripe), whose head and what looks like a handlebar moustache from the back of the auditorium are the only visible parts of him, appears from time to time in a hole in the scenery to make wise (and funny) observations.

A holiday show mums and dads will enjoy too.

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Readily accessible retelling of tale

Review by John Smythe 23rd Sep 2007

With The Sleeping Beauty still getting the full romantic fantasy fairytale treatment on ice or in tutus and toe shoes, it’s great that this Kidz Stuff production of Sarah Delahunty’s adaptation also allows kids to connect with the idea in a closer-to-home but still fantastical way.  

This is the "real" version as told to Ellie (Heather O’Carroll) by her Dad (Gene Alexander) in order to get her to stop messing about and go to bed, clutching her favourite soft toy: a bird.

It’s all because fairy Isabel (Jess Robinson) is invited to a party for the new Princess Elinora but fairy Gertrude (Robert Tripe) – who knows she’s a big lump with a hairy chin that everyone loathes – is not, that she (Gertrude) casts the spell about Elinora being pricked with a needle and sleeping for a hundred years.

Thus Elinora (Robinson) grows up hyper-protected in a needle-free kingdom that reflects the ultra-safe world inflicted on today’s children by fearful parents and institutions. Even making friends with a Birdie (Alexander) carries dangers when the Princess wants to fly too.

There’s a use-by date on the spell so Gertude has to be devious to get Isabel pricked, and when she does there’s a brief window of opportunity – thanks to a Head owl (Tripe again) – that involves having to be kissed by a Prince before the 100-year sleep kicks in.

O’Carroll (who also plays the nervous Queen) gets to play two Prince prats, the first a rollicking twit straight out of Blackadder, the other a narcissistic twerp who doubts there is anyone more beautiful than himself. But never mind, Birdie is Prince-enough for Elinora, so Ellie is able to sleep, cuddling her soft toy, without being scared of not waking up for a hundred years.

Guided by Rachel More’s clear direction, on a storybook set by More and Dushka Blakely, the quartet of players relish their broad but true characterisations while keeping the story moving along. At the opening performance an attentive and responsive audience is fully engaged, neither over nor under-whelmed by a tale told in a way they will doubtless replicate in their own make-believe play.

Some may see this treatment of the story as a soft option that fails to recognise the high-stake values of classical fairy stories and folk tales. Indeed it could be argued it’s the kids play version of rubber-floored playgrounds and being driven to and from school every day.

On the other hand it avoids the potentially damaging imprinting of silly romantic fantasies that disempower those who fall for them. And it does validly reflect the way we reconcile imagined possibilities with the known universe in order to feel safe in the world.

The Kidz Stuff style remains astutely distilled and readily accessible thanks to the relaxed professionalism of all involved.

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