‘Prepare to be enchanted’: Fairy musical comes to city
It’s a bewitching tale – two children take pictures of fairies and the world wants to believe.
Fairystories, a musical themed on “honesty, love, and loss”, will premiere in Christchurch this week with an enchanting local connection to the original, centuryold story.
“You can tell from name [of the show] that honesty is the main theme,” producer and director Louise Glossop said. “It’s about kids who took ... photos of supposed fairies. But it also touches on little innocent lies which people tell and don’t usually cause much harm.”
This musical is inspired by the true story of Elsie Wright and Frances Griffith’s Cottingley Fairies, a series of five photographs depicting ‘proof’ of the mythical creatures’ existence in the village of Cottingley, near Bradford, Yorkshire, in 1917.
With Sophie Landies as Polly Van Dorsen, and Oscar Parkes as Henry Coleshow, the pair conspire to convince Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, played by Blair McHugh that the Cottingley fairies really do exist.
Doyle, the creator of the great Sherlock Holmes, heard about the photographs, printed them and had many experts look into their authenticity. Cottingley was (spoiler) a hoax, but Doyle’s involvement drove huge interest in it for decades. Glossop had a “serendipitous” find last month, while preparing for the Christchurch production.
Hunting for props in an op shop in Sydenham, she found an original of the very book that the children in the Cottingley case had used to copy images.
Published in 1914, Princess Mary’s Gift Book contains a picture Glossop had seen on Wikipedia about the Cottingley Fairies.
“I never thought I’d have found the book here in Christchurch,” she said. “What are the chances?”
Interestingly, Doyle, who believed deeply in mysticism, is one of the contributors in the book.
“So he probably had a copy of the book from which the whole saga began,” Glossop said.
The book will be on display in the foyer of The Piano during the show’s run.
“It’s going to be stunning and we want all of Christchurch to know about it,” Glossop said. “We're especially keen for people to know it's a full musical for all ages, not especially for children. There are only five performances. Prepare to be enchanted.”
The Fairystories plays at
The Piano this Wednesday to Saturday. Tickets through www.enchantingproductions.co.nz or Eventfinda.