Institute History
Description
CINDERELLA is a dark and sensual adaptation of the classic fairy tale, drawn from various versions of the story dating back to the 9th Century, woven together with elements of Shakespeare's King Lear.
After the death of her natural mother, an uncomfortable sexual tension develops between Cinderella and her father. Rather than fall into a sordid, incestuous relationship, he flees his farm and returns with a new wife, Lavinia, and her two daughters from a previous marriage, Iris and Violet. A power struggle ensues between the domineering Lavinia and Cinderella.
Cinderella slowly discovers her special relationship with nature and magic, her heritage from her mother, a secret strength. She also struggles with her own sexuality, balancing her taboo feelings for her own father with her erotic longings for her Prince Charming.
Her father, however, drifts farther and farther into the bleary world of drink and madness, unable to see clearly enough to abate his demons.
Not entirely a tragedy on the order of King Lear, nor a purified, saccharin fairy tale, this CINDERELLA is the provocative and bizarre love story of a passionate young woman with a fiery inner strength.