Sleeping Beauty @ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh

Beauty is pain, right? French object theatre company Compagnie Akselere’s re-telling of Sleeping Beauty is set in Liverpool, which has been devestated by unemployment and famine, and details a perilous coming of age infused with the Briar Rose fairytale legend we all know and love and suburban fantasy. Our protagonist, performed with charm by Akselere’s artistic director Collette Garrigan, faces off leering wolves, cruel relatives and very adult temptations by imagining herself to be the princess of her own story. As she attempts to control her fate and overcome both an entrenched class divide and an inherited curse, fiction proves to be just as dangerous as it is comforting. With a sing-song, quick-quick-slow delivery and a slip from English to French and back again, Garrigan convinces as an expert host, a vulnerable teen and a clutch of enigmatic villains.

An impeccably-set dining table of implements help us imagine her world. With silver-service deftness, forks become a forest and a toast rack transforms into a shopping mall, with the shadowplay resembling an Expressionist day dream. Just as you’d expect from the work presented at this year's manipulate, Garrigan’s object manipulation is seamless and chic; a single white sheet is imbued with gut-wrenching emotion. Occasionally, though, some moments feel closer to a magic trick – a lampshade reveal earns a gasp but adds little to the overall performance.

This version of Sleeping Beauty is compelling, with real stings of heartache, but a deeper exploration of the indelible connection between fairytale escapism and human trauma might help clarify its narrative. Why do we lean on these fantasies? What coping mechanisms can we carve from these tropes? After all, as Garrigan asks, do we really, truly believe in happy endings?

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Sleeping Beauty @ Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, run ended
manipulatefestival.org/whatson/sleeping-beauty/