O príncipe atrasado, de Cassia Leslie e Ricardo Dalai: desconstrução das figuras do príncipe e da princesa no teatro infantil e juvenil.

Abstract

Departing from the notion endorsed by Julia Kristeva assessing every text as a mosaic of other texts, throughout this work, it is intended to discuss the matters of feminism and the masculinities in theater written for children and pre-teens. The recent dramatic text The Late Prince by Cassia Leslie and Ricardo Dalai (2018) was the object chosen for the analysis. As per its title, the piece is a theatrical parody of fairy tales were, through humor, stereotypes inhabiting classic children‘s narratives are deconstructed. However, the uniqueness of the work dwells in discussing the matters by the prince‘s perspective rather than the princess‘ one, as most commonly seen. Thus, Leslie and Dalai‘s text exposes the construction of a new female figure and promotes the necessary deconstruction of the masculine figure of the prince, who is not used to dealing with the new princesses. On its own terms, such deconstruction promotes a movement that presents itself round and paradoxical once initiated; the deconstruction of the male requires the creation of a new role model. In better words, the reconstruction of the self from the ruins of the old self is needed, once the hero seeks to reestablish the balance here, as in every journey.