September 28th, 2024Revealed, stepmother shock: it wasn’t her fault

The timeworn tale of the wicked stepmother is given an about-turn in a sold-out Melbourne show which had its final rehearsal in Daylesford before its world premiere.       

An enthusiastic audience of around 60 people saw Hepburn’s Aurora Kurth, actor, singer and cabaret performer, produce a performance that showed why critics describe her as one of the most extraordinary cabaret performers ever produced in Australia.       

And it was her captivating comedienne craft that moved an expatriate Australian playwright, Hannah Pyliotis, to ask Aurora to help stage the play.       

For this, Aurora turned to Daylesford’s Megan Jones, who is directing Mara, described as a fearless retelling of the Cinderella story from the stepmother’s perspective. Mara struggles to find work as a single mother of two children.

She marries a wealthy grieving widower but there is no happily ever after.  Says Megan: “It throws a light and helps us understand why the stepmother in Cinderella became cruel.

Cinderella was the victim of her stepmother, but here Mara is excluded by her step-daughters, who punish and abandon her, so Mara returns to her mother.”       

Playwright Pyliotis, who has lived in France for 20 years, took six years to write Mara. And there is a fascinating real-life connection: Megan taught her for two years when she was in her twenties.       

“I directed circus for two years,” says Megan, “and had a successful theatre company. I’ve been directing since I was in my twenties. In Mara we had to take the words off the page and have the story make sense of it.”      

 It’s a demanding work, with Aurora playing 10 characters, using five accents. With quick costume changes, athletic leaps, including onto a table, she captivated the  audience, who followed the run-through with keen questions and suggestions.       

Then there is the music, plus sound effects. Astonishingly, this was written in a matter of days by Ania Reynolds, who comes from Circus Oz. She also plays it with a lot of verve.      

 “It’s been so much fun working together,” says Megan. “We’re all working for nothing, and so we were so happy to get such outstanding feedback and hear from people who want to see how the play ends. We are hoping to get it into a European festival.”       

Mara is part of La Mama’s Explorations season and to Megan it also shows  the potential for part of the Daylesford Town Hall to become a much-needed  performance centre.       

Words: Kevin Childs | Image: Supplied