CINDERELLA has been dead for a year and by law, the handsome prince has to remarry.

Still mad with grief, he gets her old glass slippers out and starts hunting for the feet of the only woman who could take her place. But what happens when the shoe fits his daughter? She gets out of town.

Off she heads into the wilds and hunts for her own handsome prince and 'happily ever after' but as her mask slips, quite literally, she becomes cruelly single-minded and has to follow her mother's path backwards from palace to ashes before she finds her prince and learns her life's lessons.

Meanwhile, the ugly sisters reverse their fate, too, and after just some disfigurement, they set off on a journey which also puts them on the path to reformation.

And there were a few other characters helping them all on their way, including a mystical bear, whose tongue our heroine had to lick to find her prince, and a magical crow-boy giving a new twist to the godmother role.

A strange tale indeed by author Diane Samuels, which was brought to life by Trestle Theatre Company, with top acting, effective masks and atmospheric sounds all lending an appropriately eerie, other-worldly feel to the grown-up fairy story.

The clever masks, worn by all the characters, were no obstacle to expression or understanding and the first half left the almost full house, packed with teenagers, brimming with anticipation for the comings of act two. There, though, it left a few too many questions unanswered and had an unexpected and somewhat peculiar ending - no more happy ever afters, granted.

Review by CAROLYN SMITH