Istahil, one of the GWL Young Critics who is originally from Somalia, went along to Scottish Opera’s production of Rossini’s La Cenerentola. She’d seen the Disney movie version of the Cinderella story. But this proved to be quite a different experience.
I thought Scottish Opera’s production of Cinderella was really nice. I’d never seen anything like that before. In Somalia, where I was brought up, going to the theatre wasn’t a normal experience. It would just be older, rich people.
My experience of music is listening to traditional songs, or now in Somalia young people listen to a lot more pop music. But I’d never been to anything like an opera.
The singing was very fast and at first it sounded very different, but by the end I did get used to it.
Before I went to the opera I had heard little bits of it, but I didn’t realise that they were singing the story – it was just sound to me. With the subtitles I had to crane my neck, but I could follow the story.
We don’t have the story of Cinderella in my culture but I had seen the Disney movie so I thought I knew what to expect.
In fact, it was very different. There is no step mother – Cinderella’s mum in this production dies. And the fairy godmother is the Prince’s tutor, disguised as a beggar. The prince and his valet also swap roles so everyone is in disguise. But though this adapted version had none of the magic, it worked very well. I think it is a really ingenious way of changing the story to set it in real life.
I liked the way that we knew Cinderella is really good and kind because of how she treats the beggar, and the way that she is rewarded for that. And when everyone realises that Cinderella has fallen in love with the Prince it is a huge shock. I enjoyed watching that.
It was a surprise to me that not all the characters were wearing traditional clothes. The ugly sisters were wearing modern dress but not the others. I didn’t mind that, but I think all the costumes should be one thing or the other.
I did like the choice of bracelets that Cinderella wore to the ball instead of glass slippers. When the Prince brought the one that she had left at the ball to her house, she was already wearing the other one. It was obvious the moment he walked into the room that it belonged to her and their eyes met. That was a magical moment for me.
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