Sleeping Beauty, Briar Rose (Digital Script)

This version is based on the tales of Charles Perrault and the Brothers Grimm. While hunting a deer in the deep forest, a prince comes upon a young woman sitting among the ruins of an old kingdom. As the young woman tells the prince the story of the abandoned castle, we see the events as they occurred a hundred years earlier. A king and queen long to have a child and heir to the throne, and, aided by Erda, the forest fairy, their wish is granted. For the celebration of Princess Rose’s birth, the king invites a number of fairies, but not Erda. Angered, Erda places a curse on Rose that, on her 16th birthday, Rose will prick her hand on a spindle and fall dead. The other fairies soften the curse by declaring she will simply sleep for a hundred years. The king will not allow Rose to leave the castle walls in fear of her death. As Rose grows into a searching adolescent, her curiosity also grows. She meets Erda, who attempts to help her understand the wider world. On her 16th birthday, Rose pricks her hand and falls into a deep sleep. As she sleeps, she dreams, and her dreams begin to answer her life-long questions. When Rose awakes, she and the world around her have changed, and the prince, having recognized her from the story he’s being told, joins Rose as she emerges into her new life.