Cinderella at Theatre National

Joël Pommerat is a genius with a spectacular empathy for the anguish of man. After all, you would have to be in order to transform this pretty little fairytale into a performance filled with such awe-inspiring brilliance and radiant poetry. Pommerat’s take on Cinderella is a girl named Sandra, a young girl who stands at the bedside of her terminally ill mother. Barely able to hear her mother’s voice and not daring to ask her mother to repeat herself, this young Cinderella becomes obsessed with her mother's dying words, having to think about her every five minutes.

A giant clock plays a chilling musical soundtrack as she recalls the foreboding memory, exhibiting a disturbing laugh which quickly becomes a most disturbing peculiarity. Far from the original tale we know by the Grimm brothers, the mother's death is at the beating heart of this story which calls into question both the sorrow and guilt inside the effervescent life of an overflowing and feverish imagination.

Thanks to an astounding team of Belgian actors, the writing of this marvellous perspicuity and cinematic scenography with dark aesthetic appeal which has fast become its trademark, Joël Pommerat, in the stride of his previous shows Le Petit Chaperon Rouge and Pinnochio, skillfully reincarnates the tale of a tortured soul without losing any of its magical qualities, With huge success already achieved from previous seasons, Cinderella is back once again to captivate the minds of those aged 10 and over who struggle to choose between their child at heart and the reality of adulthood.