the first fairy tale originated in ancient Egypt around 1300 BC from this folklore, legends, and myths were created. fairy tales are told in different ways in different cultures from example the fairy tale “little red riding hood” is said differently in China as it is not a wolf that eats the grandmother it is a tiger.
the most well know fairy tales are
- cinderella
- red riding hood
- Rapunzel
- snow white
cinderella
cinderella was based on Charles Perrault, a French author and a member of the Academie Francaise, making the foundation for the fairy tale genre. The fairy tale is about a young girl mistreated by her stepmother and her ugly step sisters until she meets a prince who wants to marry her after her fairy godmother helped her go to the ball the prince was hosting. there are different versions of the story some more gruesome than others for example when the stepsisters try the glass shoe in some versions they go as far as cutting toes and heels to fit in the shoes but over time they became more child friendly as they were being told to more children.
for our performance, we use multiple versions of the fairytales however we take the darker parts and make them more comical.
red riding hood
red riding hood is a story about a little girl in a red cloak and hood who traveled through the woods to her ill grandmother’s house to deliver food to her however she is stopped by a wolf to whom she tells everything and the wolf goes to the grandmother’s house and eats her then tricks little red riding hood and eats her to until a huntsman frees them. in our play red riding hood becomes a wolf hunter and ends up in prison where we first meet the character this is a complete contrast to her fairy tale personality within her story.
the story of little red riding hood can be traced back to pre-17th-century folklore.
Rapunzel
rapunzel is a story about a girl who has extremely long and magical hair and was isolated in a tower for most of her life by Gothel the evil witch who wants Rapunzel for her magic. rapunzel was eventually saved by the prince in the Disney story gothel falls out of the tower and Rapunzel and the prince gets away however in our story gothel gets away before anything happens. rapunzel was published in 1812 as part of children’s and household tales.
snow white
snow white is a story about a young girl who was deemed the fairest of them all by the magic mirror and despite her evil stepmother tries to kill her in a multitude of ways the most successful one being a poisoned apple which put snow white in a deep sleep in which she could only be woken by the prince. the evil stepmother is then forced to dance with hot irons on her feet until she died. snow white was based in 1812.