présentent

Il était une fois…

Les contes de ma Mère l’Oie

d’après
Charles Perrault

avril 2005

“An irresponsible perversion of the original.”

– T. Thumb, The Fairy Tale Times

Personnages

English Synopsis

Charles Perrault’s beloved Mother Goose Tales have suffered much creative manipulation and downright abuse ever since their publication in 1697. The current adaptation is no exception. After 300+ years of uneasy cohabitation, the characters are as sick of each other as they are of their narrator and surrogate parent, Mother Goose. A fight breaks out during the umpteenth retelling of Cinderella, provoking Mother Goose’s fatal heart attack. At first exhilarated by their freedom, the characters dispose of the body and attempt to decide their own fate for once. Centuries of dependence on maternal guidance, however, prompt them first to follow Little Red Riding Hood through the forest to Grandmother’s house to consult that venerable lady. Along the way, the quarrelsome monsters of vanity each try to pre-empt the others in telling their tales, until they finally rid themselves of the most conceited among them, Cinderella. When Little Red Riding Hood then cautions them that her Grandmother isn’t getting any younger, they jumble the remaining tales together in an effort to get through them faster. In so doing, they realize (and give loud voice to) every individual injustice they feel they have suffered as fairy tale characters. True to their French roots, when their discontentment with their lot boils over, they take to the streets in a general strike, marching to the French workers’ anthem known the world over, L’Internationale. Such organized civil disobedience comes at a price, and all but Little Red Riding Hood are eaten by the Big Bad Wolf. Not overly upset by the carnage, Red tries yet again to jump start her tale and get the overstuffed wolf to Grandmother’s house. The strenuous race so soon after such a hearty meal brings it all back up – literally – including, to everyone’s surprise, a furious Mother Goose, who had actually faked her heart attack in order to get a much-needed vacation from her obnoxious brood. The characters’ relief at her unexpected return is short-lived as she takes back control with punitive vengeance. They decide to trick her once more into the belly of the wolf, who obligingly devours (again!) all but a postcard from Red’s Grandmother he found in Mother Goose’s apron pocket. The play ends with the characters contemplating Grandmother’s invitation to join her in her new home, where the future will, perhaps, be brighter...