Maeterlinck, a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist of the early twentieth century, awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911, is the main representative of Symbolism in his homeland.

He enjoys playing with parallel worlds, which his poetry invents, and brings his theater to life to present, in his own way, the unseen aspects of the human soul.

In "The Blue Bird," Tyltyl and Mytyl, the poor children of a woodsman, watch from their window as the children of the rich celebrate Christmas, when the fairy Berilune asks them to find the Blue Bird to heal her sick little daughter.

With the help of Light, the two siblings begin a quest, during which they encounter everyone from their deceased grandparents to their unborn sibling.

"The Blue Bird" is a work of initiation into society and life.