Isn't it time fairytales had a modern makeover?

Children going to see Sleeping Beauty at the Old Vic in Bristol this Christmas will not be watching any pretty princesses being rescued from a 100 years of slumber by a handsome hero, instead, the sleepy victim of a poisoned spindle will be a man - Prince Percy.

The gender reversal is theatre director Sally Cookson's antidote to the absence of female heroines in the classic fairytales that are still beloved by today's youngsters.

“What we wanted was a proactive, feisty heroine,” she explains to The Guardian. “Many of these earlier versions were recorded by men, so had heroines who were really so passive it is just not healthy.”

“Our fairytale heroine is able to save herself and other people along the way,” she continues. “Both the hero and the heroine in our story can be vulnerable and brave. We don’t pigeonhole them, although our prince, Percy, has been rather pampered and protected.”

“Passive female heroines are not healthy” Sleeping Beauty is a prince in panto tackling gender stereotypes