Yaga
by Kat Sandler
UK Premiere · Little Lion Theatre Company · Drayton Arms Theatre · 2022
UK Premiere · Little Lion Theatre Company · Drayton Arms Theatre · 2022
Generously Funded by the Arts Council of England
A darkly comic collision of murder mystery and Slavic folklore, reclaiming Baba Yaga from the old hag in the woods and exploring female power, sexuality, rage and inheritance across generations.
The Production
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Kat Sandler’s Yaga takes the familiar mythology of Baba Yaga and turns it inside out. Part murder mystery, part dark comedy and part contemporary fairy tale, the play moves between past and present as three actors transform through a cast of characters, each offering another piece of the story.
I was interested in the play as an act of reclamation. Rather than the old hag lurking at the edge of the woods, our Yaga was allowed to be complicated: sexual, intelligent, funny, furious and powerful. At the heart of the production was a question of who gets to tell the stories of women, and what changes when women reclaim those stories for themselves? The play’s movement through generations became equally important. Past and present continually bleed into one another, revealing patterns of female inheritance, conflict and connection — and the ways women inherit stories about what they are allowed to become. |
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Transformation + Multi-Roling
With three actors each playing multiple roles, transformation became part of the theatrical language rather than something we attempted to conceal.
There was no conventional offstage space, so instead of hiding the actors between characters, I wanted to make their presence part of the world. The forest became both setting and liminal space: a place where performers could watch the action, waiting to step into the story again.
That visibility allowed the audience to see the act of transformation itself. Characters appeared and disappeared, but the actors remained — reinforcing a play in which identities, histories and stories continually echo across generations.
There was no conventional offstage space, so instead of hiding the actors between characters, I wanted to make their presence part of the world. The forest became both setting and liminal space: a place where performers could watch the action, waiting to step into the story again.
That visibility allowed the audience to see the act of transformation itself. Characters appeared and disappeared, but the actors remained — reinforcing a play in which identities, histories and stories continually echo across generations.
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Building the MysteryYaga moves back and forth between the disappearance of a young man and the investigation that follows, gradually revealing the people, relationships and secrets of the small town around him.
I wanted the audience to be actively piecing the mystery together as we moved through time. With three actors playing multiple characters, clarity was essential: each shift needed to establish not only who we were watching, but where we were in the story and what new piece of information we were being given. The fun was in allowing the audience to become detectives themselves. Each encounter offered another version of events, another possible suspect or another reason to question what we thought we knew, while the mythology of Baba Yaga sat underneath the mystery and gradually complicated the question of what — and who — we should believe. |
Reclaiming the Witch
I was particularly drawn to reclaiming the figure of the witch from the image of the grotesque old woman hidden in the woods. Historically, female power, sexuality, anger and ageing have so often been turned into something monstrous. Yaga gave us an opportunity to play with that mythology rather than simply reproduce it.
Our Yaga could be desirable and dangerous, playful and furious, nurturing and destructive. I didn’t want those qualities to contradict one another. Her power came from being allowed to contain all of them.
That also connected to the generational relationships running through the play. Different women have different relationships to power, sexuality and the expectations placed upon them, but their stories are not isolated from one another.
The witch became less a monster to fear than a lineage to reckon with.
Our Yaga could be desirable and dangerous, playful and furious, nurturing and destructive. I didn’t want those qualities to contradict one another. Her power came from being allowed to contain all of them.
That also connected to the generational relationships running through the play. Different women have different relationships to power, sexuality and the expectations placed upon them, but their stories are not isolated from one another.
The witch became less a monster to fear than a lineage to reckon with.
Building the World
The production’s visual world grew from the collision between the contemporary and the folkloric. The forest allowed past and present to coexist, while light, sound and design could shift the space between the recognisable and the uncanny without ever leaving it entirely.
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Cast
Katherine: Biz Lyon Detective Carson: Sarah Parker Detective Rapp: Robert De Domenici |
Creative Team
Writer: Kat Sandler Director: Kay Brattan Producer: Alice Greening Set and Costume Design: Valentina Turtur Lighting Design: Michal Drozd Sound Design: Torch and Compass Stage Manager: Barbara Ferrara-Bardile Photos by Amelia Oliva |
Bringing Yaga to the UK
Yaga marked the UK premiere of Kat Sandler’s play and continued Little Lion Theatre Company’s work bringing contemporary Canadian writing to UK audiences.
The production was supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
The production was supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
Press
"A lot of fun, with masses of creativity and energy, and a plot that kept us on our toes."
London Born and Bred
London Born and Bred
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★★★
“Fabled, whimsical yet with a modern and funny twist… a bewitching way to spend an evening.” Theatre Weekly |
★★★
‘A noteworthy, significant attempt to make myths resonate in today’s world’ London Pub Theatre Magazine |
