The boys are back

By Maria Gregoriou

Disney has gone a long way lately to make sure that girls are the heroes of fairytales with the massive hits Frozen, Tangled and Brave. The animation world may have us hooked on girl power but that does not mean the boys have been overlooked. Step aside Anna and Elsa, the boys are back in town.

So if you have boys – or even girls who love a good story – then two current plays that might appeal to them are Peter Pan and The Happy Prince.

Peter Pan – based on the children’s story by JM Barrie – will be on stage in Nicosia until December 6.

The kids will love to get to know this mischievous boy who hangs around with fairies and lost boys, who fights with pirates and who can fly around Neverland. As he never grows up, Peter Pan does not just fill a child’s imagination with wonder and magic, it also teaches them never to lose their child-like side when they become adults.

The Happy Prince – based on the short story by Oscar Wilde – meanwhile teaches children how selflessness is a very honourable attribute to have.

The Happy Prince is a statue of the late prince, which stands in a town where there is much suffering and poverty. The Happy Prince can see all the suffering from where he stands and he asks a swallow to pick a ruby from his hilt, gold from his body and the sapphire from his eyes and take them to the people he can see suffering.

Peter Pan
Musical version of Peter Pan. Until December 6. Latsia Municipal Theatre, Nicosia. Saturday: 4pm and Sunday: 11am. €10. Tel: 70-000146

The Happy Prince
Performance of the play based on the story by Oscar Wilde. Until December 20. Skala Theatre, Larnaca. 10.30am. In Greek. Tel: 99-490102

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.