Rumpelstiltskin - the Pantomime

Rumpelstiltskin is a rarely performed pantomime, but is full of humour and with a strong story line about a young girl, Samantha, whose father boasts to the king that she can spin straw into gold. The king, who is strapped for cash, immediately demands that she do so and locks her up in a tower at the Palace and gives her a day in which to complete the task. If she can do it she will become his queen. Rumpelstiltskin comes to the rescue and spins the straw into gold. His mother, the witch Wisteria, tells the girl that she must forfeit her first born child to the witch. Rumpelstiltskin offers a way out by saying that if the girl can guess his name, then all bets are off, so far as giving up her child is concerned. It all sounds rather dour and sad, but love triumphs in the end, with much hilarity in the meantime.