THEATRE REVIEW:The Snow White Conspiracy

This production is Howard Barker’s twist on the Brothers Grimm story of Snow White. Unlike the original legend, The Snow White Conspiracy explores in depth the internal worlds – and the desperation – behind the characters of Snow White (Lee Quek) and her step mother the Queen (Karen Corby).

Of course we see the character of Snow White through that familiar Walt Disney filter: she is elevated in her chastity, she is the fairest of them all. She is, ultimately, pure at heart. The Snow White Conspiracy teases as it reworks our assumptions with new information and intriguing complexity.

This includes the deconstruction of Snow White’s innocence and the alignment of our sympathies with the Queen and her pained existence. The traditional polarisation of female characters into good and evil through their sexuality is disrupted and, interestingly, the relationship between the two women manifests less as a beauty contest, and more in a traditionally masculine way: through sexual conquest.

Snow White and the Queen share a lover, a forester (Katrina Johnston), and this upsets not only Snow White, but also the Queen’s (impotent) King (Scott Suffling) ... as you can imagine, the plot spirals from this point toward a less than happy ending. But we are wiser for it, having learnt a little about female suffering, ambivalence and human nature.

The script is clever and dense, but obscure at times, with scenes tending to stop just short of full explanation. However this professional production did more than enough to fill in the blanks with its lush visual clues, glittering costumes and sound effects that all added up to create the most vivid impressions. And the lively, relatively polished acting kept my interest even when the story lost me.

The set in particular was impressive. It captured the imagination with its variety of depths and vantage points that allowed for movement and energy. With light projection and screens that fell and lifted, the set was a continuously shifting space, changing forms and colours as seamlessly as dream sequences. This in itself ensured The Snow White Conspiracy was successful as an emotive package, rich in symbolism and intrigue.

The Snow White Conspiracy is directed by Serge Tampalini and Naomi Terpsis and presented by students of the School of Social Sciences with the Faculty of Arts and Education at the Nexus Theatre, Murdoch University at 7.30 pm until 8 November. For more information about this script please visit http://swc.laurajamesdesign.com/