Fairy tale reveals courage of 'Ash Girl'

A retelling of the classic "Cinderella," Timberlake Wertenbaker's "The Ash Girl" opens Thursday at the College of Charleston's Robinson Theatre.

Presented by the college's department of theater, "The Ash Girl" will be directed by Laura Turner, associate professor of theater at the college, where she teaches theater for youth.

The script is suitable for all ages as British playwright Wertenbaker returns the play to the Central European roots of the fairy tale and its 1812 Grimm Brothers interpretation. It explores the conflicting emotions a teenage girl feels about her parents, her sisters and boys in general. Lacking in self-esteem and missing her real mother, the Ash Girl is depressed and spends her days rolled up in a gray blanket on the floor.

"In the ashes no one sees you," she says. "I will stay in these ashes, melt into them."

Another difference from the Disney version is that Wertenbaker doesn't depict the stepmother as truly evil, but rather as a person who reaches out to the Ash Girl, only to be rejected, as the Ash Girl at first resists attending the Prince's ball.

Director Turner notes that the Ash Girl encounters the Seven Deadly Sins in the forms of woodland animals as she finally journeys through the woods to the ball.

"This play has all the ingredients of a fairy tale, the slipper, a prince, a fairy, yet it evokes modern sentiments about women and, unlike Disney's character of Cinderella, the Ash Girl struggles with her self-worth, her body image and her absent father, who in this version has not passed away."

Turner adds, "The Prince is also different than the usual fairy-tale prince in that he is from an exotic land, having lost his homeland in a war. He then finds himself in a foreign place, trying to make a home, but never expecting to find the love of his life there."

The director emphasizes that a great deal of humor emerges amid the Ash Girl's dark struggles. Some have said that ultimately, the play shows how to have the courage to confront the monsters that live in one's own heart.

Theater student Elizabeth Bays plays the Ash Girl, with Rachel Troublefield Nelson as the Stepmother and James Frye as Prince Amir in the 18-member cast. The dance choreography is by Christina Landis, with fight choreography by Mitchell Grant. Scenic design is by Tricia Thelen, lighting by John Olbrych and costumes designed by Lindsey Sikes.

Reach Dottie Ashley at 937-5704 or dashley@postandcourier.com.