The sleeping beauty: a play in three acts

The sleeping beauty by Theodora Du Bois is a three-act stage play written in the early 20th century. A whimsical, theatrical retelling of the classic fairy tale, it’s designed for amateur production with optional pageantry. The story centers on a princess blessed by good fairies but cursed by a vengeful one to prick her finger and fall into a long sleep, to be awakened only by a prince’s kiss.

At the royal christening, the Fairy of the Sable Caves, angered at being overlooked, lays the curse, which the benevolent fairies soften to enchanted sleep. Sixteen years later, the spirited Princess quarrels through a bad day as her magical gifts misfire; lured by the disguised wicked fairy in the attic, she handles a distaff, pricks her finger, and the whole court slumbers. A century passes. A wandering Prince pushes through a thorn hedge into the dust-laden palace, finds the sleeping Princess, and wakes her with a kiss. The court stirs, the King blusters then relents, and the couple pledge themselves as the realm rejoices and prepares to feast and dance.