Mirror, Magic, Market Tales
By Chantal Schaul.

Magic-realist in spirit, this dark comedy is mostly set on a market, but it meanders through cursed villages, mirror factories, the remote heavens of Asgard, a local prison, and the unfathomable depths of a gothic cart.

The frame narrative introduces Otto, a magic mirror of consequence, who force recruits two unlikely figures - Perry, a German butcher, and Moll, and elderly woman from Lancashire - to help him in his quest to grant three young men happiness. They will act as magical characters in the midst of a market place, selling jam and gingerbread. In return for their efforts, they will be absolved of 76 years of bad luck, which they brought upon themselves by breaking mirrors.

The three young men around whom the play revolves are Will (a sufferer of Mirror Mania), Yes (can only say 'yes') and Lionel (bald). These shortcomings rob them of the self-confidence to find the right girl.

When Lily, the woman of all their dreams, suddenly arrives on the scene, Otto steps in to reveal to each man what could be. We dive into the inner layers of the play as Otto grants all three of them a story of consequences, guaranteed risk-free and utterly true. The results are too tempting to resist.

But in real life the concept of Lily turns out to be more slippery than anticipated. Will they find their fairy tale happy ending?

With shades of McDonagh and Beckett, Schaul weaves a memorable and unusual tale of madness, romance and heroism that juxtaposes world issues and fairy tale magic with brutal humour, and is set against the backdrop of a Brueghelesque world.




Chantal Schaul Biography
Born in Luxembourg in 1973, Chantal grew up in a remote northern village, surrounded by steep wooded hills sitting atop an ancient antimony mine. She was raised on a steady diet of Grimm's tales and beagn spinning her own at the age of six, at the encouragement of the village priest, who often regailed the local children with his ghost stories.

When 20, Chantal fled her idyllic but chaustrophobic surroundings to drink in the centuries of English history and tradition accross the Channel and studied Media Arts at Royal Holloway University. There she wrote and directed the acclaimed "Dwarves", starring Evie Garratt (Little Britain).

After a brief stint working in the Luxembourg film industry, she returned to the UK to study the prestigious Creative Writing Masters Programme at UEA, run by Andrew Motion and Paul Magrs. Fellow alumni include Malcolm Bradbury (founder), Ian McEwan, Kazuo Ishiguro, and Tracy Chevalier.

Chantal has completed two novels, a full-length, and a number of short, screenplays, as well as a multitude of short stories. Her story "Of Noses and Feet" was selected for the UEA Creative Writing Anthology 2003. Samples of her work can be found at her official website www.schaulism.net