Monday 26 October 2015

The Sleeping Beauty Theatre by Su Blackwell and Corina Fletcher (Thames and Hudson)

Here's a fascinating take on a classic fairy tale where you can literally take control of the story yourself. A brilliant and innovative new retelling of the classic "Sleeping Beauty"
You may be forgiven for thinking you'd seen just about every possible version there is of the classic story of Sleeping Beauty, but how about a version where children can become producer, director and actor in their own stunning production of the tale?

"The Sleeping Beauty Theatre" is released today, and it's a fabulously presented miniature theatre complete with scenery, props, characters and a story book so children can really immerse themselves in putting on a brilliant play.

Charlotte wasted no time in taking out all the tiny pieces that come with this brilliant book and playset!
The set folds out easily into the base for your theatre, and each of the components is made of sturdy cardboard, with a rather unique art style making things look like they're made out of classic snippets of fairy tale books themselves.

Grandmas and Grandads might remember toy theatre sets like this from when they were children, and it's a fantastic idea to bring these back in book form.

Time to put together a brilliant stage show!
Once Charlotte picked up the idea of how to slot in scenery (and swap between scenes) and manipulate the characters and props, it was time for the grand production! What a brilliant way to present a new version of the story, and obviously Charlotte's smile says it all - this was a huge hit!

Brilliant fun, and definitely a great idea!
Mummy and myself were the audience for Charlotte's own special production, we had such a lot of fun with this and we really hope that more stories are on the way!

"The Sleeping Beauty Theatre" is out today from Thames and Hudson Publishing.