I love collaborating on work for this demanding and discerning audience, and always hope to write a story that everyone can enjoy – young children, older siblings, parents, guardians, care-givers, friends and anyone else who might happen to come along. But this is the show that nearly wasn’t. Originally scheduled for 2020, Glass Slippers was cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. When the lockdowns started, we’d already workshopped ideas as a creative team, and I thought I had a fairly strong idea of what the show was going to be. However, when I came back to work on it this year, I found that my thinking had changed about the story I wanted to tell.
When I thought about young people and their lives in 2024, I couldn’t help considering the impact of over two years of rolling lockdowns, at a crucial time for their development. The Covid years accelerated our growing reliance on technology for communication, and the genie’s not going back in the bottle any time soon. Even if children are too young to remember the impact of the pandemic, they will be growing up in a world shaped by the interaction between the real and the virtual. And so, I felt that it was more important than ever to stress the value of personal connection – and finding the truth behind the curated public image.
I realised that the traditional Cinderella story says a lot about public image versus reality. In pretty much every version, a poor, overlooked girl becomes a social sensation because she’s got the right clothes. The Prince falls in love with her instantly – which risks making the poor man look quite shallow! And so, understandably, many modern Cinderellas include a scene where the Prince meets Cinderella without her Princess disguise, and falls for her anyway. I thought it was important to show that Cinderella and the Prince have a deep connection, and that they both need each other.
Also, I wanted to avoid demonising the Stepmother and the “Ugly” Sisters. For the sake of the many people who live in blended families – and for those who don’t, yet, but might, one day – I wanted to tell a story about step-siblings who don’t always agree, but who find common ground and eventually find ways to live together happily.
I am very excited to see what the rest of the creative team – Wendy (director), Christella (composer), Stuart (movement director), Catherine (designer), Delicia (costume designer) and, of course, our brilliant actors – bring to Glass Slippers. I hope that it will be a fun and magical show with a positive message about being yourself and enjoying the wonders of our amazing natural world!