Princess Flower

PRINCESS FLOWER is a charming play suitable for children age eight and above, with an appropriate and modern message based on a traditional theme and taking about an hour to perform. Originally written in Turkish, it has been performed in Turkey and is in the repertoire of both the State Theatres and the City Theatres of Istanbul. In 2006 it won an award from the following bodies: ASSITEJ (International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People), ITI (International Theatre Institute) and IPF (International Playwrights Forum). In the mythical Land of Flowers, where people earn their living by growing flowers, the seventeen-year-old Flower Princess, Lily, is waiting for the time of the flower harvest to marry Snapdragon, the Flower Prince. But her mother, Queen Rose, falls and breaks her leg. Her father, King Bluebell is so upset that he issues a command forbidding women to go out to work any more. They should stay at home engaged in housework. Soon all the flowers wither and die and even their seeds are useless. The king talks to the queen about what to do: "I should go to the Land of Giants to get more seeds, but I am old for the journey. If we only had a son, he could go to the Land of Giants for me."Princess Flower, overhearing this, is hurt. "I can go!" With her parents' consent, so she does, riding her horse Benny. They have many adventures, meeting creatures whom they help and who help them (a pair of nightingales, a buck and a doe, two white eagles, a female rabbit). Finally, in the Land of Giants, the Flower Princess is told, "If men and women work equally", then the flowers will bloom again. She returns home with new seeds, given by the King and Queen of the Land of Giants and conveys this message. The king, her father, rescinds his command. Men and women work together again in the flower fields and elsewhere. The princess marries Snapdragon, Prince Flower. Her father makes her Queen (with the consent of the people). The new Queen states that she would like Snapdragon, Prince Flower, to reign with her. There is dancing and rejoicing and the play ends.