The Many Cinderellas

Programme Outline

Fairytale house décor, S. Germany

The programme explores the story of one of the world’s best-loved stories, contrasting the modern popular version (derived from Monsieur Charles Perrault’s classic ‘Cendrillon’ of the 1760s) with many older traditional versions drawn from many cultures and centuries.

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00:00	Once upon a time...
	Introduction by the Presenter and a troupe of actors who will appear repeatedly as different characters
01:25	Pantomime
	Familiar characters: Buttons, the Ugly Sisters and, of course, Cinders
02:24	Less familiar versions of the tale introduced
02:44	Sources
	Popular versions of the classic folk tale
03:12	Charles Perrault composes his classic ‘Cendrillon’ at the 1760s Royal French Court of Louis XV
04:24	‘A Caribbean Cinderella’ by Robert San Souci
04:51	‘Cindy Ellen’ — USA
05:31	Gruesome Tales
	Traditional versions of the tale
05:58	‘The Princess in the Suit of Leather’ — Egypt
06:43	‘Armenian Cinderella’ — Armenia
07:30	Cruel Stepmothers
	The heroine’s misery occasioned by a cruel stepmother
07:58	‘Yeh Hsien’ — China
08:15	‘The Maiden, The Frog and the Chief’s Son’ — West Africa
08:30	‘La Gatta Cenerentola’ (The Cat Cinderella) — Italy
08:50	Foolish Fathers
	The heroine’s misery occasioned by a cruel ‘love test’
09:25	‘The Way Meat Loves Salt’ — Jewish
10:17	‘Cap o’ Rushes’ — England
11:10	Impossible tasks
	Unfair and seemingly impossible chores inflicted on the heroine
11:29	‘Beauty and Pockface’ — China
11:44	‘The Maiden, The Frog and the Chief’s Son’ — West Africa
12:02	‘Yeh Hsien’
12:15	‘La Gatta Cenerentola’
12:35	Cinderella strikes back
	The consequences of provocation
12:56	‘Cendrillon’
13:12	‘Beauty and Pockface’
13:24	‘The Princess in the Suit of Leather’
13:47	‘Allerleirauh’ — Germany
14:01	‘The Princess in the Suit of Leather’
14:32	‘La Gatta Cenerentola’
15:10	The Fairy Godmother
	The role of magic to resolve the dilemma
15:32	‘Cendrillon’
15:48	‘Cindy Ellen’
16:38	‘Yeh Hsien’
17:15	‘Rashin Coatie’ — Scotland
17:33	‘La Gatta Cenerentola’
17:54	‘Yeh Hsien’
18:42	‘Armenian Cinderella’
19:30	Cinderella transformed
	The role of supernatural intervention to resolve the dilemma
19:52	‘The Maiden, The Frog and the Chief’s Son’
20:10	‘Aschenputtel’ by the Brothers Grimm — Germany
20:24	‘Cap o’ Rushes’
21:00	‘The Princess in the Suit of Leather’
21:17	The midnight hour
	The tell-tale lost object
21:47	‘Cap o’ Rushes’
22:12	‘Aschenputtel’
22:40	‘The Little Red Fish and The Clog of Gold’ — Iraq
22:55	‘Cendrillon’
23:04	‘Cindy Ellen’
23:20	Fitting the slipper
	Desperate measures to resolve the ‘slipper test’
23:39	‘Cendrillon’
23:56	‘Cindy Ellen’
24:39	‘Aschenputtel’
23:35	Happy ever after?
	The resolution of the conflict
25:48	‘Cindy Ellen’
26:00	‘Cendrillon’
26:27	‘Aschenputtel’
26:55	‘Cap o’ Rushes’
27:37	Conclusion
	Some reasons for the tale’s enduring, universal popularity
28:46	End Credits