I needed to get back to work today, to prepare and send documents in good time for a meeting on January 2nd. An outing to a children's show called the 'Two Sleeping Beauties' was booked for two o'clock at the Sherman Theatre, so I had to get to the office mid morning, work for a couple of hours, then start hand delivering document packs and get to the theatre on time. Fortunately the office was deserted, so there was nothing to distract me. By the time I met the family in the new Sherman Foyer I'd completed two thirds of my mission.
The show was an interesting re-write of the folk tale with a feminist slant, pairing the princess with a serving girl, their fates inextricably bound together by their lifelong friendship. It was superbly performed, and richly textured, although the portrayal of male characters as being all foppish, foolish, wicked or ineffectual, I found irritating. I know it's no different from presentations of stereotyped women, but it felt more like vengance than insightful. In reality, women and men are each as complex and diverse and subtle in character as each other. I thought we'd started to outgrow stereotyping, but obviously not. It was, however, better than the usual pantomime.
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