The extravagant festive shows at Leeds Playhouse have become the stuff of legend and this year they are bringing back The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.
They last staged C.S. Lewis’ classic children’s book to packed houses back in 2017, as four young evacuees venture through a mysterious portal in a wardrobe finding themselves at the heart of a war in the permanently wintery land of Narnia.
Katy Stephens has taken on starring Shakespearian roles with the RSC, the National Theatre and at London’s Globe Theatre, but has headed north to play the villainous White Witch, who rules Narnia with an icy iron fist. Our features Editor Paul Clarke caught up with Katy between rehearsals to talk about the challenges of playing such an iconic villain, and why live theatre is still the best night out.
Tell us about Jadis, the White Witch?
The White Witch is on a kind of vengeful path in Narnia, she’s turned the whole of Narnia into winter, and it is never Christmas, and she has an arch rival figure, who is Aslan the Lion. The prophecy of her demise is that four human children will turn up to Narnia, that Aslan will crown them and that will be the end of her. When we meet her in the Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, we see these children turn up to Narnia, and then the huge battle between herself and Aslan begins.
It must be great playing an out and out baddie like the White Witch, but it does bring some acting challenges?
It’s very difficult with Jadis to find that sympathy somewhere, and we’re very, very lucky that with The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe there is a prequel which was written afterwards. So we find out a bit more about the younger Jadis in that book, and she does extraordinary things, like she commits an armed robbery at a jewellers, she hijacks a taxi and she pulls a lamp post out of the ground, which is the lamp post that ends up in Narnia.
So how have you created your own version of such an iconic villain?
She was kind of feisty, but then when she’s brought back to Narnia, she does this deal where she eats this apple, which will give her power, but ultimately the rest of her life will be completely miserable. I have to look at it as an actor from a point of view of how sad that she’s kind of consigned herself to misery for the rest of her life. She will never ever be happy again, so I kind of feel sorry for her.
You have played plenty of complicated Shakespearean villains, so do you see some parallels with those iconic women and the White Witch?
Certainly the great epic quality of these characters, and power is corrupt, which is a constant theme in Shakespeare. I see lots of those Shakespearean women in her, and there’s something very similar about Lady M, I won’t say the whole word as I’m in a dressing room. I have played those roles, like Queen Margaret in the Histories, maybe I’m bringing all that to her. I don’t believe that anyone is completely bad, everybody has motive and layers, and I always feel that my job as an actor, particularly when dealing with those famous baddies, is to find those complexities.
When I first read the book 40 years ago I was entranced by the bravery, loyalty and companionship shown by those fighting Jadis. Given what is happening in the world this seems a really opportune time to stage this.
We feel that in rehearsals, just the resonance, when Mr Tumnus is talking about what he was supposed to do, and he’s going against the regime, he’s going against the grain. He’s really scared of that, and that his father would be so upset with him, you can’t help but feel huge resonances. In rehearsals I thought about all sorts of terrible things going on in the world, what’s happening in Gaza at the moment, in Ukraine. There’s good and evil, and we kinda choose a side, whichever one we think is good.
What do you hope younger fans of the book will take away from this production?
What I find eternally fascinating is that even with the amount of technology in children’s hands that theatre is still surviving because there is nothing like that live experience in the world. Nothing like it and nothing can beat it. I think there’s something very different from having these characters that you have fallen in love with, or maybe hated, projected onto a screen, but when they’re actually live humans in front of you that is so exciting. Some of these children will probably be coming to the theatre for the first time, and hopefully we’re building a grassroots younger audience that will sustain theatre forever.
The festive shows at the Playhouse are now legendary for filling every inch of the massive Quarry stage, so what can people expect this year?
I’ve never been in such a huge show, it is massive, you just won’t believe what’s going on. The people I’m working with are so hugely talented, so they’ll be involved in some choreography and they’re just doing this amazing, incredible dancing. Then they’ll just pick up an instrument and play it, and they’ll pick somebody else’s instrument up and play that. Then there’s the huge effects, the extraordinary costumes and there’s quite a lot of magical illusion in it. I disappear quite a few times myself, and it’s an absolute spectacle.
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe is at Leeds Playhouse until Saturday 25th January 2025. To book www.leedsplayhouse.org.uk or 0113 2137700.