Our masqurade: Fairy tales and folk lore

29|1|2020

We split off into small groups and started our individual research into fairy tales and folk lore, me, Ben, Alex and Ruby all visited the library and brought back: a copy of The Grims brothers tales and a collection of Celtic folk tales. When we returned I opted we do a play inspired by a tale about selkies; mythic sea beasts somewhat like mermaids but instead we decided on our own adaptation of Rumpelstiltskin. 

 We started production on "Follow", our modern adaptations of Rumpelstiltskin. I originally wanted to play the 'Rumpelstiltskin' character but I was suggested that I play the female lead instead. At first ideas came slowly to the group but eventually, we decided on a theme of fame and exploitation on the internet.

George, Harry and Joy's group settled on 'The moon' a purculiar tale about three siblings and theirjoruney to bring back light into the world. Ben, Amy and Harry C decied to adapt sleeping beauty. 

Fairytales are often very simple, they rely on our structured narrative that ends with one of the characters receiving justice or learning important life lesson. Somewhat like fables they often have an unusual cast of characters but often they are recognisably archetypal and somewhat childishly simple. But unlike fables the moral or the ending of the story can be almost ambiguous; in Rumpelstiltskin the fairytale that me, Alex, Ruby and Ben are basing our masked performance on ends with the brutal, bloodied death of the villain, this set is a suicide and doesn’t teach a clear lesson but rather was written almost to shock and disturb the reader.