Abstract: The play revisits the structure of cabins with a window towards the centre, the itinerant character, and the sensual atmosphere of the peepshows of the 17th century to reinvent the fable of Cinderella. A peep show offers good scenery to mix theatre and dance, beauty and sensuality, dreamy fairy tales, and crude reality. Cinderella becomes a pretext to grasp the concept of beauty and love created and pursued by society while addressing its contradictions.

Details: The audience of a peep show comes into the theatre, invited by the host to sit in separate cabins, insert the coins, and peep towards the show from a small window. A game of intimacy and distance starts from each other and the scenery. A man, Rocco, appears in the middle of the dark, foggy stage. He sits and laughs with a red-heeled shoe in his hands while singing Cinderella’s theme song. The peep show will present four contestants who compete to gain Cinderella’s slipper and attend the ball with the prince. They must show how they plan to win over the prince’s heart. At first, they dance around in white, puffy dresses. They start to strip and take everything off as they dance, showing their undergarments. The first contestant is Stella. She has already competed multiple times. However, this will be her last one: as soon as she is introduced, she changes her mind. She denies dancing because she says she cannot be a princess and never will be. She sobs that she is not fascinating or pretty enough but does not care. The show host tries to change her mind in panic but then sends her away without the shoe, calling her “pathetic.” The second and youngest contestant, Gioia. She breaks in, wanting to take over the scene. She tries to send Stella away, and they fight each other. Stella pushes her, and as Gioia hits the floor, she automatically freezes as a broken doll. Rocco tries the slipper on her while she sits still, but it is too big for Gioia’s tiny feet. The host explains that she has been brought in as young flesh, but she is revealed to be too young and incapable of competing, so Rocco carries her on his shoulders and takes her out of the scene. Rocco carries in the third participant, Letizia. She is very different from the others: she cannot hear or talk, but she is gorgeous. Rocco paints her with glitter, and she asks for her music to dance for the prince. Rocco tries on her shoe, but it does not fit her either. She stops as Felicity, the last competitor, enters the stage before being invited and kicks her out. Felicity has long, thick hair that she uses to cover her body sensually after taking off her top. She also dances for the prince, singing with a gun pointed to her mouth. In the end, the show host calls all the participants on stage and praises them. He waits for the prince to decide, but the prince is not there. However, he says that’s fine because on the following day, they are changing cities and they will find new clients to watch the show. In a moment of revelation, the show host strips off his clothes; he is dressed as a woman with a blouse and a long skirt, then changes into a shirt with a tie and pants and then again into one of the puffy white dresses that were left on the floor by the contestants. In the end, he finds out that he is the one who fits Cinderella’s slipper, and after a moment of joy, he gets scared and desperately runs away.