Writer: Kat Sandler
Director: Kay Brattan
What could you productively add to a whodunnit about a missing student and mysterious family dynamics? If you said “a detailed and educational overview of one of Eastern Europe’s most enduring and versatile myths” then you’re thinking along the same lines as Canadian writer Kat Sandler.
Baba Yaga’s story takes many forms. Across numerous countries from Finland to Ukraine and beyond she is spoken of in folk traditions as generally an older woman living in the woods, having powers to help or heal depending on her will and wish, and comes with an assortment of interesting props. A house standing on chicken feet, and a mortar and pestle as a mode of transport, for example.
Sandler has wound the story around her own tale of small-town mystery, introducing a pleasingly dark element to already shadowy events. However even though all the elements are there in principle, between the mythology, jarring characters (and changes), strangely balanced scenes and a lot of talking over the 2 hour 20 minute run time, it feels exhausting and at times rambling.
The real action, as it were, is in a small university town in North America somewhere. A young student, Henry (son of a rich yoghurt producing family) has gone missing and his mother has hired a private detective, Rapp, to help locate him. Teaming up with Detective Carson of the local force, Rapp’s search reveals the young man is dead, leaving a trail of infidelity and anger in his wake, and uncovers the potentially supernatural and deadly habits of one of the families in the town.
Three actors take on multiple roles here. As a figure of Baba Yaga, as well as two generations of the dangerous Yazov family and others, Biz Lyon does a superb job – bringing us into the world of this wise woman and creating a compelling character in the second eldest Yazov. Robert De Domenici plays Henry as well as the detective, flipping with ease between the two and holding onto our attention as a strong line through a complex piece.
With the good performances as a stabilising force, the ins and outs of the narrative swirl around. It’s intricate storytelling, which is commendable, but it goes own too long to retain the essential characteristic of a murder mystery — the tension. We see various seductions that could be shortened or removed, characters that are indulged in at length (the old woman’s downstairs neighbour), conversations that could be a quick exchange go into unnecessary detail and MacGuffin plot points that are distracting ( such as a lost podcast episode).
Alongside this are a scattering of small catches that take us out of the action. It’s set in North America, but with a rich number of unexplained British accents, also references to the daughter now living in “Europe” are flat – we’re in Europe here, tell us a country so we can engage with the story. The set from Valentina Turtur that hosts all this is smart, framing everything among trees and hanging flowers that resonate strongly with both Baba Yaga’s forest home and poor Henry’s last location. But seeing performers waiting and changing costumes and props backstage through the large gaps in the scenery is odd and distracting.
Sandler draws good links between the two main elements – the folktales and the criminal investigation. It’s also tremendous to see the focus on strong, confident women and such a depth of concentration on discussion views of women in association with the Baba Yaga story and its telling. It’s an intriguing way to understand and enrich both, but the execution is troubled and confusing. With so much packed into the script, the end result is storytelling that gets in the way of itself.
Runs until 19 November 2022
