Chimera Theatre artistic director Andrew G. Cooper's new production "The Robber Bridegroom" by the Brothers Grimm uses puppets to tackle heavy themes like consent and violence against women in classic fairy tales.
Image Credit: SUBMITTED/Andrew G. Cooper
December 31, 2018 - 1:30 PM
KAMLOOPS - Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are just a few of the many classic tales written by the Grimm Brothers.
For those who have read the original stories written by the German duo, you might be aware of the differences between their version and Disney's versions.
"Most of the original tales by the Grimm Brothers are actually really dark," Chimera theatre managing art director Andrew G. Cooper says.
Cooper is excited to announce the Chimera Theatre will be producing their own show based on a Grimm Brother fairy tale called The Robber Bridegroom.
Unlike most of their productions which are performed by actors, this play will be performed entirely actors using puppets.
The reason why they have chosen to use puppets is because the tale itself is too gruesome and dark to be accurately portrayed by actors, Cooper explains.
"It's tricky because I think for the average person they think of children's puppets or puppets for kids," Cooper says. "But this show is for adults, if I had to give it a rating I would probably give it a 14 or 16 plus, it's definitely not suitable for children."
Some of the strongest themes in the play focus on consent and violence against women within fairy tales, Cooper says.
"We are trying to stay as real and as gruesome to the story as we can," he says. "We picked puppets because there is a bit of violence in the show that we couldn't conceive of doing with actors."
Some of the scenes even include dismemberment, Cooper says.
"We decided to use puppets because we thought we could show how terrible the story really is," he says.
The themes around violence against women have been prominent in the media, Cooper says, and he wanted to create a piece that would have people reflect on those issues through art.
"In fairy tales, women are very silent and there's a lot of academia around women not having a voice in fairy tales, which is another reason we choice puppets because puppets also don't have a voice," he says.
The Untold Tales of the Brother's Grimm: The Robber Bridegroom by the Brothers Grimm will be the Chimera Theatre's fifth annual mainstage production.
The play will run from Jan. 23 to Jan. 26 at the Pavilion Theatre.
For tickets go here.
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