
Ako Kondo in David McAllister's The Sleeping Beauty. Photography Daniel Boud
The Bluebird and his princess are part of a flock of story-book characters that come to Aurora and Dèsirè’s wedding in the last act of The Sleeping Beauty (in David McAllister’s production, these are the Prince’s friends, dressed up as characters from his favourite book of fairy tales). Among them are figures more recognisable to a modern audience: Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots. The Bluebirds (as they are often called, although the Princess Florine is a woman) come from a literary fairy-tale dreamed up in the 17th-century Parisian salons; it was written by Madame d’Aulnoy.