Sleeping Beauty: The Cycle

Now, our story seems to show
That a century or so,
Late or early, matters not;
True love comes by fairy-lot.
- Charles Perrault, The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood

Whether you read a pop-up book before bed as a child or watched the live-action Maleficent adaptation, you probably know the story of Sleeping Beauty pretty well. It’s a classic fairytale, written and rewritten over centuries. The story's meaning changes every time it's told — it all depends on who tells it.

If you’ve seen the opening scene of our upcoming musical, you're probably familiar with this idea…

On the 5th and 6th of June, we’ll bring to the stage a fresh reworking of this tale. There are so many people pouring their hearts into this project: staying in music meetings until 5am, rehearsing in the bicycle garage after campus is already closed, reworking choreographies dozens of times, hand-stitching costumes from thrifted cloth… It's really turning out incredible! Everyone is working hard to create something beautiful, and we’re very excited to share it all with you.

But when this was still a draft on an empty Google Docs, I had no idea where this story would go. As a writer, it’s always difficult to figure out where to start. How do you come up with something fun and original, from a really basic and linear fairytale that everyone already knows?

Obviously, the Disney movie version of the fairytale was fresh on my mind, but research is a big part of the process. Rather than choosing one “true” version of the story, the musical pulls from multiple historical and artistic sources. There are a lot of small details in the original drafts that are all references to previous retellings of this story!

Join me in a deep dive into the versions of Sleeping Beauty that inspired the musical!

1. Perceforest

Perceforest, or Le Roman de Perceforest, is an anonymous romance, written in Old French around the 1340s. It is a massive epic, spanning about 8 volumes. With interludes of songs and poetry, it's one of the foundational texts of Arthurian legends. It serves as the prologue to King Arthur’s tales, often retelling historical events, local folklore, and (most importantly for us) tales of love.

One of the most famous episodes in Perceforest is considered the earliest substantial ancestor of our fairytale. At the time it was written, France and Britain were in constant territorial fighting — with the start of the Hundred Years’ War — and there were regions under heavy dispute. One of these regions gave name to the princess of this story: Princess Zellandine.

Yes, she was the beautiful princess of Zeeland, a region that is now a notable province of the Netherlands. This story technically took place right here, centuries ago!

Which… now that I write it down… might explain why so many versions of Sleeping Beauty make her sleep for one hundred years…

In the original version of this tale, the royals of Zeeland celebrate the princess’s birth, and invite all the local goddesses — loosely inspired by Greco-Roman mythology. One of those gods, the deity of Destiny, was not offered enough silverware, and cursed Zellandine to prick her finger on a splinter of flax and fall into eternal sleep.

Years later, Zellandine falls in love with a knight called Troylus, and they almost get married before she pricks her finger while spinning and suddenly collapses. In an attempt to find an explanation and a way to save the princess, he goes to the temple of two of the goddesses that attended the party: Venus, goddess of love and desire; and Lucina, goddess of light and protection, often associated with Juno.

What they tell Troylus to do is a much, much less innocent version of the classic smooch we know today. Surprisingly, the way it's written is actually very respectful for the time. To quote: 

“No man should breach a girl’s privacy without her leave, and he certainly shouldn’t touch her while she sleeps!”

Yeah! Go, Troylus! 

Still, because this is the 14th century, the sleeping princess eventually gives birth to a child — yes, while still asleep. The baby bites her finger, removing the flax thorn that was stuck to her fingertips and waking her up from her curse. Eventually, Zellandine and Troylus run away together and properly marry, though neither ever really recover from these events.

Since this is the first popularized version of our fairytale, it is also the core inspiration for the naming choices throughout the musical!

The title of the story, Perceforest, is the main inspiration for the romantic lead of our musical: Prince Percy! The knight's original name also makes an appearance, inspiring the prince's kingdom: Illinius. It comes directly from the ancient Greek city of Ilium, also known as Troy.

The fact that this story originally takes place in Zeeland inspired the name of our princess’s kingdom: Martera — translated quite literally from Portuguese as the “sea” “land”.

Finally, the two main goddesses who blessed our princess are the direct inspirations for the famous pink and blue fairies that reappear in many versions. Venus and Lucina gave us the names of our wonderful fairies, Vera and Lucilia!

Also, as a general worldbuilding fun fact, fairies all come from garden and forest plants, granting them different abilities. Our two fairy godmothers are specifically flax fairies — the same plant that gave the thorn from the spinning wheel. They are aesthetically inspired by two of the main types of flax flowers: Scarlet flax and Lilac flax.

2. Sun, Moon, and Talia

This one is… interesting. I won't lie, a part of me would rather not talk about this one. It's the reason why this article took so long to write. (Sorry, writing committee…)

Sun, Moon, and Talia is a short story written by Giambattista Basile, published posthumously in 1634. It was the first full attempt to adapt the fairytale, but it was very much not for kids.

After the birth of a great Lord's daughter, Talia, many prophets and astrologers were asked to foretell her future. They read her horoscope (okay, sure…) and brought a dreadful warning to the family: she would be put in danger by a thorn of flax. There were no gifts or evil faeries or wizards to curse the girl: only destiny itself.

Her father declares no flax be brought into his lands, and destroys all things made of flax in their home. Still, years later, Talia finds an old lady spinning at a wheel, making blankets out of the golden flax threads. As soon as she tries to spin herself, she pricks her finger and falls asleep. Her father leaves her to sleep in one of their country estates.

Years later, an old king is hunting in the countryside and finds the house. When he sees her, he tries to wake her up, but she doesn't stir. Then, of course, he obviously does the only logical thing to do: gets her pregnant and immediately leaves. Wow. I love old fairytales.

Again, she gives birth in her sleep to two children, a boy and a girl, who bite the flax off her finger. When she wakes up, she names the kids Sun and Moon and starts raising them in the country house.

When the king comes back, finding her awake and with children, he starts visiting her frequently. Oddly enough, they fall in love with each other (eww) and have a surprisingly healthy and respectful relationship from that point forward (aww?)

However… The king was already married. Because of course he was. This is the version of the story that introduces the “Evil Ogre Queen” plotline that reappears in many darker versions of the story.

The queen notices how her husband is absent and has been saying “Talia” in his sleep. She forces their secretary to tell them all the details of what happened — and when she finds out, she forges a letter saying that the king wants to bring his children to the castle.

Now, by this point, you'd think she is completely justified here, right? Your husband assaults a stranger, cheats on you with her, and has a second family? Awful stuff.

What isn't really great is that, upon meeting Sun and Moon in the castle, she immediately orders the kitchen chefs to kill them, cook them, and turn them into pies so she can eat them in front of the king. That part is less good.

The kitchen staff obviously does not do that, and hides away the children. They give her a random lamb pie as a replacement, and she fully believes them.

After that, she summons Talia to the castle and asks for a bonfire to be made in the yard so she could be burned alive.

She addressed her thus, "Welcome, Madam Busybody! You are a fine piece of goods, you will weed, who are enjoying my husband. So you are the lump of filth, the cruel b****, that has caused my head to spin? Change your ways, for you are welcome in purgatory, where I will compensate you for all the damage you have done to me."

Wow, okay… Talia obviously freaks out, letting the king overhear and rush to save her. He pushes the queen into the flames, who burns to death. The kids run out of hiding and meet the king and Talia, and they live happily ever after…

Yay???

Evidently, there is not a lot from this story we are using. The musical is family-friendly, and this is very much not. There will be no non-consensual pregnancies and no baby-eating wives. However, a few small elements are kept.

For starters, this story popularized the Sleeping Beauty imagery of the spinning wheels on fire, used in later versions. It mixes the beginning declaration of the lord and the final burning of the queen. It also introduced the visual of the old lady spinning golden threads, which is some of my favorite imagery overall.

This story also expands a bit on the king's court, seeing the type of leadership they hold and the wars they often fought in. It also introduced their personal secretary as a notable character. This will come back later.

The king and queen — often retold as the prince's parents instead — have a tumultuous relationship in many versions of the story. People really don't like the jealous queen when she starts monologuing, and many say that this plotline is directly inspired by the Greek tragedy of Medea and Jason's children. This gives us the name of Queen Mara, as it is similar to the tragic Greek figure and means “bitterness”.

And for the record, King Colin’s name simply means “victory of the people.” What exactly does that imply… I guess you'll have to wait and see!

3. The Sleeping Beauty In The Wood

This version of this fairytale is one of the most in-depth and detailed adaptations of the story. Charles Perrault wrote La Belle Au Bois Dormant in his collection of books, Histoires ou contes du temps passé, published in 1697.

In this version, there were 7 fairies invited to the party, and they were offered golden tableware. There was one fairy who was not summoned — an ancient, forgotten thing, thought to be vanished in a distant mountain — who appeared without invitation.

After many fae give their blessings to the baby, the forgotten one walks forward and curses the baby to pierce her hand on a spindle and die from the open wound. However, the last of the good fairies offers her own gift, professing that the princess would be woken up by a king’s son. The kingdom bans spinning wheels, burning them all in a pyre.

Years later, on the princess’s birthday, she climbs up to the attic, finding an old lady with the last spinning wheel of the kingdom. When she pricks her finger on a needle, she is the only one to fall asleep! The king and queen, in desperation, claim they would prefer to wait a lifetime than never see her again, and call the last good fairy from many kingdoms far. She appears in a chariot driven by dragons and agrees to magically put the kingdom to sleep, so the princess would not be so alone when she inevitably wakes.

Around the castle, a vast forest of thorn bushes and towering trees magically grows. The wilderness becomes so dense that nobody can enter, and over time, rumors spread about the enchanted castle hidden away.

A distant prince, 100 years later, doesn’t know what rumors to believe, so he decides to check himself. As soon as the prince nears the castle, the thorns and trees part by themselves, allowing him passage.

Finally, he reaches the princess’s chamber and sees her lying on a magnificent bed, still perfectly beautiful. In Perrault’s version, the princess awakens essentially because the “destined time” has arrived and the prince is present; there is no actual “true love’s kiss” here! Everyone wakes up; they laugh and dance and plan their wedding!

Unfortunately, the story doesn’t end here.

The prince and princess have two children: a daughter named Morning and a son named Day. He hides this marriage from his family — he has a rough relationship with them, for he knows his mother is secretly part ogre and craves human flesh… Yep.

Eventually, after his father dies, the prince becomes the new king. He is forced to fight an old ongoing war with the neighboring kingdom of Contallabute, and unfortunately has to place his mother in charge of the kingdom. Wanting to keep power, as she was never given the chance to rule before, she proceeds to plot to eat the princess and her children — just like in Sun, Moon, and Talia.

She speaks to her personal servant about the request:

"I will have it so," replied the queen (and this she spoke in the tone of an ogress who had a strong desire to eat fresh meat), "and will eat her with a sauce, Robbert."

Do I find it odd that their one servant gets an official name, but none of the royals do? Yes. But I also find it funny. This is, of course, the main inspiration for our beloved butler in the musical, Robb! The kingdom of Contallabute also gets a notable mention, so keep an eye out for that.

For a while, the ogre queen believes she has eaten all three victims, but Robbert keeps the princess and children hidden together in his house so they can secretly reunite. Eventually, she overhears the children speaking and discovers she has been deceived. Furious, she prepares a gigantic pit filled with snakes, toads, vipers, and other monstrous creatures. She orders the princess, the children, and the servant to be thrown into the fire.

Just as the execution is about to happen, the new king unexpectedly returns from war and shames his mother. Seeing her crimes exposed, the ogress throws herself into the pit in embarrassment, dying by her own hand. The king reunites with his wife and children, and the tale ends with the royal family restored and the kingdom safe again.

I really love this version of the story, but it’s also so silly to me. It’s the foundation of the Sleeping Beauty we know today, but it also has so many random details that never go anywhere. We get the names of three separate neighboring kingdoms. We get to know about the forgotten fairy and get a lot of details about what cutlery the royals use. We also have dragons, apparently.

But do we get the princess’s name? No. Because who needs to know that?

4. The Little Brier-Rose

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, also known as the Brothers Grimm, published their own version of this tale in 1828 as part of their Children's and Household Tales collection. This version is probably the most well-known, so I won't get into that much detail, besides the differences from the previous versions.

The king and queen wanted a child for ages, but never had one. It was only when the queen was taking a bath in magic waters that a frog (???) leaped up and blessed them with the promise of a daughter.

At their party to celebrate the princess’s birth, they wanted to invite the 13 Wise Women of the kingdom. However, they only had 12 golden plates for dinner… so they just… didn't invite one of them. She was understandably upset, and cursed the princess with her eternal sleep by pricking her finger on a needle on her birthday.

This time, when she inevitably pricks her finger on a needle, the whole kingdom immediately falls asleep too. For 100 years, they are all frozen in time.

The lost legend of the Little Brier-Rose spreads to neighboring kingdoms, though nobody really knows what exactly happened. Many princes and suitors tried to save the princess, but the forest always kept changing, and nobody made it out unscathed. Rumors spread, and one nearby prince gets curious to find out the truth of what became of the overgrown kingdom.

As he approached, the forest opened itself to him, turning into beautiful flowers. He easily finds his way through, finding the sleeping princess, and gasps at her beauty. He kisses her awake, and with her, the whole kingdom rises to celebrate their wedding!

This version is actually really cute!! No doubt as to why it's the most popular. I personally love the emphasis on the magical properties of the enchanted forest, physically taking over the kingdom and blocking off the suitors. The fact that the legend of the princess became lost to time is very interesting, and doesn't appear in many adaptations — but I definitely wanted to include it in the musical, somehow.

Also, of course, this story finally gives us the name for our lead: the Brier-Rose, Princess Rosalind!

5. The Sleeping Beauty Ballet

This ballet consists of a prologue and three acts with music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, first performed in 1889. While this version of the story isn’t used much for the musical, it’s still a great inspiration to shout out.

The prologue shows the first birthday scene, with the blessing and the witch’s curse. Act 1 focuses on the princess being courted by suitors, before pricking her finger and collapsing. The Lilac fairy appears to put the kingdom to sleep, and let the forest take over.

Act 2 now follows the prince, 100 years later, hunting in the forest and seeking the princess. He has visions of her, finding out he’s her true love. He tries to find her, asking for the Lilac’s fairy help, and manages to kiss the princess awake! Act 3 simply follows their wedding, and it’s a beautiful dance.

The songs of this ballet were the main musical inspirations for the Disney movie, all taken from the stage version. The wicked enchantress Carabosse is also a very clear inspiration for the Maleficent figure of the recent movies.

Also, this story actually gives us character names, for once: Princess Aurora, Prince Florimund, King Florestan, and the enchantress Carabosse.

Unfortunately, for copyright reasons, we can’t really use any of these names. Luckily, we can at least keep the title of the Lilac fairy for our own Lucilia, but the rest had to change.

King Florestan became our incredible King Arden — a name that also means "great forest." The queen’s name, Queen Nathalia, is also connected, as the name (very coincidentally) means "birthday"!

Sleeping Beauty: The Musical!

With such different versions of this story, there are a lot of ways Sleeping Beauty can be brought to the big stage. In the end, different aspects of each version were adapted into the plot and into the small creative choices of the script.

Also! Keep an eye out for the names of the stories' authors… A little birdie told me they might appear directly in the musical!

But what about the curse, you ask? Will we have the fate of the stars, a betrayed fairy, an old god, an evil witch, an ogre queen… a frog… who knows? I guess you’ll just have to come and see!

I hope you enjoyed this very long deep-dive into this story’s inspirations. I’m beyond thrilled to see this project, a story I saw once upon a dream, become reality. There’s a lot of thought put into this, and we're all very excited to be able to share it with you. <3

(Reminder: Get your tickets here! Time is running out!!)

Written by Ana Clara Martins, actress, songwriter, and Head Writer in Sleeping Beauty: The Musical, as well as a dedicated Writing & Marketing Committee member!

You can find Ana Clara on Instagram: @anaa.logy

Waiting for Beckett

2059. This is the year that will mark the 70th anniversary of Samuel Beckett’s death. A death that came soon after he sued a Dutch company for casting female actors in their performance of his play. Interestingly, the undoubtedly liberal court in Haarlem ruled that the play’s integrity was maintained despite the actresses lacking a prostate. This ruling, however, did not prevent Beckett’s legacy to prevail, as if he built a statue of Pozzo cast in iron, rusting as his thick rope tightens its grip around the neck of artistic expression.

It is said that his rigidity is part of his genius but how can a female mind be too rigid to comprehend the hidden meanings? Perhaps an actress cannot portray an everyman, as there is something inherent about her that distracts the viewer from the minimalism of the scene. Perhaps the presence of boobs defines the character as no longer relatable and universal. Or perhaps the prejudice is in the eye of the beholder who perceives women as an object and not a subject.

If it was really the prostate, why would legal threats be made because a male cast ‘’injected race into the play’’? Is white skin also a condition for a timeless portrayal? Is Beckett’s genius so elusive that too much melanin can prevent you from fully grasping the philosophy lurking from behind tree branches? Or perhaps he was like us, human, susceptible to hardwiring and conditioning overly present in a conservative Irish village, which creeped into his work and locked it in the ice-cold shackles of its context. That context grows and spills and spreads like a slowly developing infection to finally spoil the entire play by stamping it with an expiration date; signaling the death of universality and timelessness.

Shakespeare only survived the trial of times because of the countless retellings, adaptations, multi-medium approaches, legends, tales, songs, and raw emotions poured into the lifeless words by professionals and amateurs alike to breathe life into them. Art lives as long as there is someone to interpret it. Meanwhile, Beckett’s legacy is to fear and tremble as two lines are rewritten, intending to shock, to move, to adapt to the audience. As Shakespeare, Wilde and Brecht shout with a cacophony of voices, Beckett continues to monologue in monotone. If Kafka had such a loyal executor of his will, his legacy would leave this world with the smoke of the burning manuscripts.

I am waiting for 2059. The year when the shackles break and I can realise my dream of directing Beckett’s play. A play that inspired my love for absurd and theatre, and theatre of absurd. When I can cast women, men, and non-binary people to act as everymen, not bound to choose only those who possess distinct characteristics. When I can re-imagine the scenery — the tree, the road, the costumes, or even the underlying message to fit our context and not someone else’s. And I believe Samuel Beckett is waiting too. Waiting for his iron statue to rust away and allow his art to breathe new air. Waiting for Godot who does not bring hope only to the privileged.

Written by Julia Kubiak, a dedicated member, an actress and HoA from the 10th Board!

You can find Julia on Instagram: @toreisvogel