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Cinderella: A Fairytale

 
Stephanie Green Review by Stephanie Green 4 Published: 5 Dec 2025 Multiple Venues Show Dates: 27 Nov 2025-3 Jan 2026

Puppetry, song, dance, silly jokes and pratfalls, Cinderella: a Fairytale by Sally Cookson, Adam Peck and the Original Company, directed by Jemima Levick, is certainly original. This Cinderella is Ella, surrounded by her friends the birds (puppets designed by Matthew Forbes), who teach her how to fly – that is, how to be herself – which of course means gaining her Prince (an engaging Sam Stopford), a twitcher.

Clever and funny

The human characters are in brightly coloured modern dress, with Ella (a charming Olivia Hemmati) in shorts, but the setting is timeless, as in a fairy tale, an imaginative canopy of trellis-like brooms and brushes designed by Francis O’Connor. Scaffolding, also featuring brooms, represents a tree where Ella sits in the forest to see the magical puppet birds swoop ahead on long poles, or larger birds with characterful beaks perch on her hand, manipulated skilfully by puppeteers on stage. There is also beautiful shadow puppetry to show Ella’s growing up.

The story moves swiftly from her happy childhood with her widowed father (a twinkling Richard Conlon) to the arrival of the ghastly stepmother (Nicole Cooper), almost a panto dame in her tight-fitting, garish green and pink suit and over-the-top acting, which make her cruelty amusing. Her children, a boy (Matthew Forbes) and a girl (Christina Gordon), are both hilarious in their prim and proper ways. All three make Ella’s life miserable, dubbing her Cinderella, forced to sleep in the cinders. Ella scrubbing the floor and tricking her stepbrother and stepsister to take part is clever and funny, with the charm of the earlier scenes now replaced by knockabout comedy.

Until this point the show’s charming atmosphere and humour suit all ages, but it now takes a more adult turn. Even from the start, the joke of the twitcher Prince’s use of the Latin names for birds is more suitable for older children. Now we have the stepmother’s overtly sexualised flirting with the Prince and finally the Gothic horror of the stepsister determined to squeeze her large foot into the small shoe, having her toes cut off and shockingly presented as bloody stumps on a plate. It’s a shame, as there is so much else suitable for all ages, particularly the audience participation, with cast roaming the stalls to see whom the slipper – in this case a sparkling trainer – will fit.

I would definitely not take a child under ten to this show.

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The Blurb:

A Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh productionBy Sally Cookson, Adam Peck, and the Original Company

Coming to Edinburgh this Christmas, the story we all love that has captivated audiences around the UK, Cinderella: A Fairytale!

Ella and her devoted father share a love for woodland birds and their calls, but when her father remarries, everything changes. Now Ella's feathered friends feel like her only true family.

Until one day, a mysterious boy stumbles upon Ella's tree hideout with an invitation to The Queen's Celebratory Ball! Can Ella make it to the ball in time? And is there more to her bird friends than meets the eye?

Sally Cookson's celebrated adaptation of Cinderella will delight the whole family in a new production from The Lyceum. With music and puppetry, this festive story adds a magical flutter of wings to happily ever after.