Showing posts with label Brothers Grimm. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brothers Grimm. Show all posts

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Who are these supposed brothers and why are they so GRIMM?

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm were born in Hanau, Germany in the late 1700's. They began collecting folk tales around 1807 and published their first collection of stories in 1812 after Jacob was named court librarian to the King of Westphalia. This first volume of fairytales was named Tales of Children and the Home.

The Brothers Grimm traveled around Germany, gathering stories from villagers and peasants. They also may have stolen published stories from other cultures. Jacob did research and Wilhelm did most of the writing. He provided the simple, child-like writing.

In addition to being storytellers, the brothers also worked on a German dictionary. It was massive, consisted of 33 volumes and weighed about 185 pounds. They only made it from A - F before their deaths, and the dictionary was not completed until 1960.

Original Fairytales

GRIMM re-vamps 7 Brothers Grimm fairytales with a Boston twist. Some of the fairytales are well known like "Hansel and Gretel" or "Little Red Riding Hood." "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" has even been picked up by Disney and turned into movie. Some of these fairytales, you will probably not have heard of. Have you ever read "Clever Elsie" or "Stories About Snakes?"

So here are the original stories! They're from surlalune.com, and even include some history if you want to go that far. And if you read these now, you'll be all ready to see how we make them modern, seductive, funny and delicious.

The Frog King
Hansel and Gretel
Little Red Riding Hood
Clever Elsie
Stories About Snakes
The White Bride and the Black One
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Enjoy! And don't forget GRIMM tickets have just gone on sale at bostontheatrescene.com!