A reclamation of self, inspired by the Medusa myth.
As you enter the Belvoir St Downstairs theatre, you see a large, dimly lit, slab of clay as club music fills the space. In the centre, writer and performer Aliyah Knight sways to the pulsating music. It feels like it could be a party, but there’s something heavy in the air telling you it also couldn’t. You lean in.
Over the course of this 90-minute one-person show, the audience watch Maddie, the protagonist, navigate their life as the wounds caused by sexual abuse expose themselves. In this reclamation, you are brought into a visceral, raw and unashamedly human world that you don’t want to leave.
Knight gives an incredible performance with confidence and endurance as the audience experiences their visceral, messy exhaustion throughout the work. While the text sometimes feels dense, Knight’s ability to capture the essence of each character in their performance adds texture to the production. From the second the play commences till the very end, we find ourselves cackling in unexpected moments.
The job of finding joy in the darkest places is a tough one; however, Knight’s work shows that it isn’t impossible. A nod to the myth of Medusa, SNAKEFACE is a reminder to never run away from the ugly truths of life, but also to never let despair win.
The most fascinating and exciting part of the production is the clay and how it is clearly an extension of self, maybe even an expression of self. Every second of play with that clay, every thud, every gush, every scoop moves one towards the connection between the material, its manifestation and oneself. You see the creation and its mess, but you see its beauty too. And Maddie is reflected in all of it. You find yourself searching for more and more moments of this interaction, often in silence, where nothing is more visceral and often uncomfortable than the sound of the skin meeting the clay.
While making a deeply engaging one-person show is a huge creative challenge, Bernadette Fam’s direction ties all aspects of the production together in a way that excites the audience. Elements of physical theatre and the design world showcase dramaturgical choices that bring Knight’s poetic words to life.
While the video projection, at times, distracts from the action on stage, Rachel Lee’s lighting design carries the audience through the different worlds Maddie inhabits and acts as an effective tool of shifting pace and breaking tension throughout the work. Sound design from Marco Cher-Gibard is simply divine and plays with our heartstrings so gracefully. Overall, the elements of the production work in beautiful tandem with each other.
When people call a person of colour’s writing about sexual violence ‘brave’, it often feels like an obvious observation. Knight’s writing feels truthful. But further, it pushes boundaries and experiments with form; it takes risks not only in the story told but the way they choose to tell it.
The joy of watching such works doesn’t lie in the aesthetics of the production alone, but also in the curiosity that it invokes: curiosity about the process, exploration, experimentation and vision.
SNAKEFACE
Belvoir St
Writer/Performer: Aliyah Knight
Director/Dramaturg: Bernadette Fam
Producer: Madeleine Gandhi
Set/Props Designer: Keerthi Subramanyam
Light Designer: Rachel Lee
Sound Designer: Marco Cher-Gibard
Costume Designer: Wanyika Mshila
Movement Director/Choreographer: Fetu Taku
Projection Designer: Wendy Yu
Associate Director/Producer: Rachel Seeto
Vocal/Dialect Coaches: Laura Farrell and Erica Lovell
Stage Manager: Justice Georgeopoulos
Marketing Manager: Sean Landis
Community Engagement Lead: Kelly Dezart-Smith
Wellbeing Consultant: Shondelle Pratt
Access Coordinator: Courtney Henson
Photographer: Teniola Komolafe
Cinematographer: Mia Schirmer
SNAKEFACE will be performed until 27 April 2025.
First published by ArtsHub on April 16, 2025. This article has been commissioned in partnership with Artshub for Diversity Arts Australia’s StoryCasters project, supported by Multicultural NSW, Creative Australia and Create NSW.
