Zoom Play | 2020

Grab a Zoom portkey, fall down the rabbit hole and into the world of Ashputtel. It’s Cinderella – but not as you know it. Will she marry the Prince or will her stepsisters triumph instead?

An interactive theatre event on Zoom created by Bark at a Crow and MXB Studios, featured in The Guardian’s “best theatre and dance to watch online”, Ashputtel is based on the original 1812 European fairy tale by The Brothers’ Grimm. It tells the fantastical tale of Ashputtel, a girl reduced to poverty and servitude by the manipulations of her new stepmother and stepsisters. Assisted by a mysterious forest creature, half-bird, half-tree, she is able to break free, run to the palace and attempt to win the heart of the Prince.

Ashputtel is a traditional tale that cleverly mixes the original text with modern language and twenty-first century references. Designed as an immersive experience, the audience take centerstage at various points in the story with characters engaging them to assist Ashputtel complete her tasks, party at the palace and get even with her grasping, greedy stepsisters.

“I was never a fan of fairy tales as a child. The girls did nothing but wait for prince charming to come and rescue them from their horrid lives. But what I loved about fairy tales was the magic. A pumpkin that turns into a chariot, a fairy godmother, talking birds… Ashputtel has all that magic. It’s your stereotypical fairy tale but it mocks the stereotypes. It is fun, twisted and in parts gruesome. My character is the storyteller, a bird, a tree and the spirit of Ashputtel’s mother combined! She weaves in and out of the many parts as she engages with the audience. A one-of-a-kind experience on Zoom for both the actors and the audience!