Theatre MRU, the performance company of Mount Royal University’s Theatre Arts Diploma, closes their 2009 / 2010 season with The Ash Girl; Timberlake Wertenbaker’s re-imagining of the classic Cinderella tale.

Wertenbaker populates her take on the well-loved fairy tale with the expected: an evil step-mother, haughty step-sisters, a kindly fairy and a lovelorn prince. But she breaks new ground with a second cast of characters
dredged from the depths of the subconscious mind: sadness, anger, lust, pride, gluttony, sloth, pride and greed. These deadly sins all take on quite literal characters in the play, each confronting the Ash Girl in an
attempt to bar her from achieving happiness.

“The Ash Girl character’s written in a way that we can all relate to,” says Stirling, “but there are elements of each of the evil demon characters in us as well. Wertenbaker explores specifically how nothing is ever as black
and white as it may seem.”

Information: 403.440.6139 or www.mtroyal.ca/theatremru