Cinderella: 2004

Cinderella is one of the oldest and best-known tales in the world, with about 1,500 versions recorded dating from at least as far back as the tenth century.

Versions of the story are known in Africa, Asia, Europe and North America and it has probably attracted more scholarly study than any other tale in the history of folklore.

The popular Disney film of Cinderella is based on the Charles Perrault version, first recorded in 1687 and published in France as Histoires ou Contes du Temps Passe or Tales of Times Past. This was translated into English in the Stories of Mother Goose and Cinderella soon became as popular here as it was in France.

Another widely-known version is Ashcenputtel by the Brothers Grimm, which was published in Germany in 1812. In this story, the help comes from a wishing tree rather than a fairy godmother and the two sisters cut off parts of their feet to try to fit them into the slipper!

Cinderella made its pantomime debut in 1804 – at the Drury Lane theatre in London – and there were more than 90 stage productions during the 19th Century.

More recently, the story has inspired many books, musicals and films, including The Slipper and the Rose and Roald Dahl’s own wicked version in rhyme – a long way from the original tale which may well have made its way to Europe from Asia. The story appeared in The Miscellaneous Record of Yu Yang, a book dating from the T’ang dynasty, which ended in 907 AD.

But each version shares a common theme – that the cruel and thoughtless eventually get their just reward, as do those who are kind and good.

TATS’ pantomime for 2004 took place exactly 25 years after the inaugural TATS production of Dick Whittington and formed part of their silver jubilee celebrations.

The script was specially penned for TATS by Brian Clemens (of The Avengers, Highlander and The Professionals fame, to name but a few of his many productions).

Cinderella & Ugly Sisters