About the work
A fairy play in five acts and ten tableaux by Maurice Maeterlinck, first performed on 30 September 1908 at the Moscow Art Theatre under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski.
Plot
The woodcutter's children Tyltyl and Mytyl are sent out by the fairy Bérylune to find the Blue Bird of Happiness. On their journey through the Land of Memory, the Kingdom of Night and the Forest of the Future, they encounter the dead, animals and things brought to life, until they realise that the bird they sought was in their own home all along.
Cultural significance
Alongside "Pelléas and Mélisande", "The Blue Bird" is among Maeterlinck's most widely performed plays internationally; it reached Broadway in New York as early as 1910 and has remained a classic of family theatre ever since.