Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters are taking the stage in Burnaby — but this time as a couple of middle-aged woman ready to dish the dirt on the palace.

The Spinsters! is taking the stage at the Shadbolt Theatre in Burnaby beginning Thursday, as a new dark comedy put together by a powerhouse of Western Canada creators.

Old friends Tara Travis and Christine Lesiak came together to create, write and perform this original production. They call it a “spectacle” full of magic and surprises.

“Imagine this, you get to meet Cinderella’s ugly stepsisters as a couple of middle-aged ladies,” Travis said.

“This time, it’s their ball, their rules,” Lesiak added.

Lesiak plays the elder step-sister, Tormentia and Travis plays the slightly younger step-sister, Atrocia.

They say some of the show’s magic begins with the way their characters move around the stage. Each step-sister wears a huge ballgown that “moves in a magical way.”

In a trailer for the show, the women appear to float around the stage, with no feet visible between the gown and the ground.

Travis says the gowns are only the beginning when it comes to the show’s intrigue.

“It’s an unfoldment, upon unfoldment, upon unfoldment,” she said. “It gets deeper and deeper into the shadows as it unfolds as well.”

The show is reccommended for ages 14 and up, due to its dark themes, the duo said.

“Don’t bring the little ones, there are no Disney princesses in this version of the story,” Lesiak said. “It’s more in the world of grim than Disney.”

Travis says the pair came up with the idea for the show at a cabin getaway, during which they were bonding over feeling more like an ugly step-sister than Cinderella while growing up.

With their combined connections in the theatre world, Travis and Lesiak say producing the show has been a dream because they’ve collectively brought aboard an arsenal of their favourite creators.

“I feel like between us, we’ve assembled The Avengers of theatre craft,” Lesiak said.

“We would ask our designers to make something impossible and they would say ‘Yes, but also do you want these other two impossible things?’ And we would say ‘Well of course we do now.’”

Shows will run daily from Nov. 16 to 18 at 7:30 p.m., with an additional matinee on Nov. 18 at 2 p.m.

Travis says audiences should expect to be immersed in the show’s intimate storytelling, designed to illustrate the story of two side characters turned main characters.

“What would they have to say as middle-aged ladies, knowing all they know and seeing all they’ve seen?”

–With files from Shawn Ayers