Preview: Princess Charming, Tobacco Factory Theatres

“Peter is a boy. And boys like blue and football and fights. Jane is a girl. And girls like pink and dollies and princesses.”

Spun Glass Theatre’s Princess Charming is a family-friendly cabaret show – and a topical exploration of gender identity and stereotypes for children aged 7-11.

Through cabaret, sticker books, song and dance and acrobatics, performers Charlotte Worthing and Alexander Luttley bring heaps of entertainment as they inspire audiences to find the courage to defy expectations.

Here’s director Amy Draper.

Tell us about your Princess Charming, and the themes you tackle in the show.
Princess Charming is a cabaret show for families that explores themes of gender – both gender stereotypes and gender identity and expression.
We use a huge variety of cabaret acts including song, dance, comedy skits, lip-synching and acrobatics to take a light-hearted look at how the all-pervasive stereotypes that exist are both ridiculous and damaging. There is a lot of silliness and laughter, alongside interaction with our cabaret audience, but we don’t shy away from more complex themes. I believe that all work for young audiences should be bold, uncompromising, theatrically innovative and a springboard for conversation. I hope that Princess Charming is all these things – whilst also being very entertaining. Politics with sparkle.

What brought about this collaboration with Spun Glass Theatre?
I had worked with our performers, Charlotte Worthing and Alex Luttley, on another new theatre-cabaret piece called These Trees are Made of Blood, which explored the disappearances in Argentina in the 1970s. While making this piece, it became clear that another subject that interested us all was gender.
At the same time, I was also keen to make a cabaret for kids as the form seemed full of potential for exciting work for that age group. Princess Charming had a first work-in-progress sharing in 2016 at London’s Mini Vault Festival, after which we knew that the show had legs.
When I was looking for a producer to help us take it further, Jessica Cheetham of Spun Glass was recommended to me as someone making innovative work both about gender and also, separately, for children. The company was the perfect fit for this collaboration.

How does the show deal with gender stereotypes and identity?
Put simply, all the acts in Princess Charming look at aspects of what it means to be a boy and what it means to be a girl. We created them through research, our own experiences and by working with children: so each scene represents something that is important to children today, whether that’s being allowed to be messy and loud as a girl, or how being a boy means that you’re often told not to cry. The performers present lots of different ideas about how stereotypes put pressure on girls and boys to act a certain way and how that might make us feel.

What do you think or hope younger audience members will take away from Princess Charming?
I hope that younger audiences will feel inspired and entertained by the show. We have worked hard to create something that is relevant and packed with different performance styles. Maybe someone will be inspired to learn to sing or dance having seen the show?
I also hope that we get families talking to one another about gender stereotypes and how they impact on their lives –  even, and often, at home (however sub-consciously). It could be that a child who doesn’t feel they fit their particular stereotype sees the show and feels empowered to talk to the adults around them about what they like to do, wear or who they like to play with. It might be that a boy or girl who feels comfortable with the stereotypes will understand more about gender difference, and maybe become more accepting of their friends and classmates who like different things.

How much of a part do you think that gender stereotypes play in the way children see themselves?
I think that stereotypes cover so many different aspects of children’s lives, and the first thing that springs to mind is the pink/blue divide in what children are given to wear.
But what Spun Glass Theatre is really concerned with is how these stereotypes affect behaviour. If a boy is naturally more sensitive, or a girl naturally more assertive, a continual commentary or admonishment from adults can chip away at their confidence. We see a direct link between the way that adults treat children according to gender, right from birth, and the way that society functions for adults. We don’t mention this in the show but, for example, there is without doubt a link between the “man up” culture and the alarmingly high number of young male suicides. Similarly, what are we telling our young girls about their life choices when only the pink section of the toy shop is full of domestic products?

Is the play aimed solely at children, or will adults also be able to respond to the core messages?
My hope is that the show has resonance for all age groups – as indeed all good theatre for young audiences should in my opinion – and that it provokes discussion and questions.

Do you think schools, as well as parents, have a part to play in educating children about identity?
Yes, absolutely – it is often when young children first go to nursery or school that outside influences start to creep in in terms of stereotypes. I believe it is also true, though, that there are a myriad subtler and deeply ingrained ways of treating and talking to children that occur far younger, whether we want them to or not. It’s a bit of a vicious circle.

What most excites you about taking the show on tour?
We are visiting a lot of theatres and cities for the first time on our tour, so we are really looking forward to meeting people in all those places and hearing their thoughts on gender. If we can provoke important conversations whilst entertaining the whole family, all the better!

Princess Charming is at Tobacco Factory Theatres from Nov 2-4. For more info, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/princess-charming