Review: KISSING THE WITCH at Little Theatre, University Of Adelaide

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Thursday 10th August 2023.

Kissing The Witch, by Irish author and playwright, Emma Donoghue, is the current production from the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild. Beauty and the Beast, Donkeyskin, The Goose Girl, and The Little Mermaid are each reinterpreted from a feminist and queer viewpoint, with the addition of one new tale. Her book, of the same title, from which she adapted the play, contains thirteen fairytales.

In her book, the tales are given new titles. The Tale of the Rose is based on Madame le Prince de Beaumont’s Beauty and the Beast, The Tale of the Handkerchief is based on the Grimms’ tale of the Goose Girl, The Tale of the Skin is based on the Grimms’ tale of Donkeyskin, The Tale of the Voice is based on Hans Andersen’s Little Mermaid, and The Tale of the Kiss, we are told, “is not based on any source text, but suggested by various folk motifs about oracles and magic helpers, discussed in Marina Warner’s, From the Beast to the Blonde.”

The sections are linked by the central character from one tale then coaxing their story out of the central character in the next tale. Some visit the witch, one becomes the witch, and one kisses the witch.

Directed by Imogen Deller-Evans, it features Susan Cilento (first woman), Ellie-May Enright (second woman), Michelle Hrvatin (third woman), and Sam Wiseman (man), each of whom play several characters. Helen Moriss provides solo violin background music throughout, from upstage.

Perhaps inexperience in direction, or in some of the cast or, possibly, opening night nerves, saw the start as actors acting. The lines were there, delivered rather statically, and the moves were there, but the characters didn’t immediately appear. The emotional connection wasn’t there. Gradually, though, it settled down, and a range of characters developed, with a consequential growth in depth of the interactions between the characters, and audience engagement. With the first night over, it is to be expected that future runs should start more confidently. Watch, especially, for some of the moving moments between Cilento and Enright.

Placed in the centre of the stage, in the middle of a round carpet, is an ancient heater, surrounded by odds and ends which are used and returned during the play. It is, in effect, an onstage props desk. More items are all around the edge of the stage, and three more carpets are upstage. Various bits of furniture are further upstage, in front of a screen composed of numerous white net sheets. Set changes are carried out by the cast. This interesting set design is by Thomas Brogden. The lighting design is by Stephen Dean, another of his well-considered pieces. Yolanda Tree designed the costumes, some of which were quite elaborate.

There are some interesting variations on those old fairytales that challenge presupposed perceptions, bringing them into the modern world. The production should achieve its potential, so book your tickets.

Photography, Christian Best.