A post by Pat

Why?

Forget the ugly sisters… ‘fat bitch’ in Cinderella upsets audience

A production of Cinderella aimed at children has cut a scene in which a character is called a “fat bitch” after shocked audience members walked out during previews.

But the word “slut” and a scene involving violence have not been dropped from the festive “family play” showing at the Lyric theatre in Hammersmith.

Cinderella is billed by the theatre as “the only show to see this Christmas for everyone seven plus”.

One mother, who went to see the play with her eight-year-old daughter and her schoolfriends, said she was “horrified” by the “gratuitous violence”. She told the Standard: “We were expecting fairy godmothers, pumpkins and mice – not violence, bloodshed and swearing.”One of the girls in our group was in tears. I had to calm my daughter down, too. She was traumatised by a scene in which birds peck the eyeballs out of the ugly sisters.

“There was a scene in which Cinderella gets a really bad beating from her stepmother, too, and it’s really violent by any standards.


Fairy godmother
Now what should I do with this wand?

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7 Comments | Leave a comment
  1. savvydude says:

    It’s a British production, so it just kinda figures. Trashing a beloved story has become a regular practice of thespian lefties. I also read today where a school in Britain has postponed the Christmas observance until “the New Year” in order to accommodate a Muslim celebration.

  2. It sounds like the same kind of people who celebrate “Che Guevara Day”.

    ::rolls eyes::

  3. Talkin Horse says:

    This never would have happened in the old days before we let thespians work in the theater.

    I can only imagine what they might do with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.

  4. Paper_Tiger says:

    The mother was probably expecting the Perrault version but instead got the Brueder Grimm version of the fairy tale.

    There is no ‘vast left-wing’ conspiracy here to defrock a classic story. There were multiple versions; the Grimm version is particularly violent and bloody while the Perrault version is more in line with most know of the tale.

    Leasson learned: It’s a parent’s job, given sufficient resources, to ensure their child isn’t exposed to anything inappropriate.

  5. Paper_Tiger says:

    FWIW:

    Here is what the Theater has to say about the production:

    It is winter.

    The Queen has declared that there will be a glittering festival of music, magic and dancing so that her son might find the girl of his dreams. Everyone is invited to his astonishing palace.

    BUT…Cinderella won’t be going to the Ball – unless she manages to finish the impossible tasks her sisters have set her. Maybe her friends from the forest can help her?

    The acclaimed director Melly Still returns to the original story by the Brothers Grimm to create a spellbinding show for the whole family to enjoy.

    With a top-notch creative team including Norwegian ice-musician, Terje Isungset, the Lyric will be transformed into a spine-tingling winter wonderland to make Cinderella the only show to see this Christmas.

    ‘A fantastical new version of an old favourite.’ Time Out

    For everyone aged 7+

    Um .. It is a bit misleading. Though being a rendition of the Brothers Grimm version should give pause, the whole ‘a spellbinding show for the whole family to enjoy’ thing is simply misleading.

  6. STOICCAT says:

    Something Epictetus said two-thousand years ago seems appropriate; “Most of what passes for legitimate entertainment is inferior or foolish and only caters or exploits people’s weaknesses. … Be discriminating abut about the images and ideas you put in your mind.” It made good sense then and does now. I recommend for citizens of the “village” of Tammy; A Manual for Living Epictetus Sharon Lebell.

  7. pat_s says:

    STOICCAT–

    Sounds intriguing. I put in a request for the book via my inter-library lending program. Thanks for the tip.

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