Oh for a handsome prince to break this spell
Has anyone noticed the poster on the Underground for the Royal Ballet’s Christmas production of The Sleeping Beauty? Beauty herself – the unhappy side of 30 or is it just the stage makeup? – recumbent in her tutu, coiffure propped on about 7 pillows, arms folded symmetrically accross her pelvis and feet tensely pointus to the south. We know it’s not rigor mortis because she was after all only sleeping. I couldn’t hold that position for 100 years. Behind her what appears to be an angry and histrionic transvestite rears out of the photoshopped gloom, an evil Queen indeed! A weeping maiden next to the bed casts an incongruous note of realism.
I like classical ballet; I just think this image isn’t doing it any favours, and this country is peopled with thousands of talented image-makers who need work.
Oh for a handsome prince to break this spell. Or a hacker (see our debate next week). Anyone see a way to make this image more fit for purpose?
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