International Family Hit BABA YAGA Set To Premiere At Adelaide Festival

After a sell-out season and rave reviews at the Edinburgh International Children's Festival in 2018, Baba Yaga is set make its Australian premiere at the Queen's Theatre as part of the 2019 Adelaide Festival.

A unique international collaboration between Windmill Theatre Co and Imaginate Scotland, this critically acclaimed show for ages seven plus is a new take on an old Russian folktale with a modern twist.

The enigmatic Christine Johnston of The Kransky Sisters stars as Baba Yaga alongside Adelaide talent Elizabeth Hay (Emil and the Detectives, Gods of Strangers) playing Vaselina. Johnston co-created the work with Windmill director Rosemary Myers (Girl Asleep, Rumpelstiltskin) and Scottish children's theatre maker Shona Reppe (The Curious Case of Josephine Bean).

Vaselina lives the quiet life, working as receptionist in a very tall apartment block. But all that changes when she is forced to confront the terrifying Baba Yaga who breaks all the house rules causing constant complaints from the other residents.

Who is this mysterious neighbour? Will she ever turn the music down? And what exactly is she planning for dinner?

Director Rosemary Myers says, When I got together with Shona and Christine, we were immediately drawn to the Russian witch Baba Yaga. She is such a fascinating character, as she can be good and bad. She might help you but also she might eat you, and that creates a great dramatic tension.

We can't wait to present Baba Yaga to our Australian audiences, and we're thrilled to do it in partnership with Adelaide Festival. It will be lot of fun presenting this seriously kooky show in the slightly spooky Queen's Theatre.

Baba Yaga's Adelaide season will be complemented by an interactive installation by local artist Fleur Elise Noble, which will transform the foyer of the Queen's Theatre into a forest and encourage Windmill's young audiences to explore their own dreams. This work has been developed with the help of students from South Downs Primary School and Virginia Primary School.

Baba Yaga's artistic team features creatives both new and known to Windmill. Composer Peter Nelson, Designer Ailsa Paterson and Costume Maker Selene Cochrane all work with Windmill for the first time while animator Chris Edser's illustrative work featured in Rumpelstiltskin and Richard Vabre designs lit the stages of the Trilogy shows.

The work was created during three creative developments both in Edinburgh and Windmill's Adelaide studios across 2017 and 2018, before embarking on a three-week tour of Scotland and a premiere season at the Edinburgh International Children's Festival in May 2018.

Baba Yaga will follow up its Adelaide Festival season with performances in Launceston, Tasmania as part of Ten Days on the Island. The work will also perform a five-week run in China this July, with an Ireland and UK tour in the works for later in the year.

This marks Windmill's first appearance in the festival since 2014's Windmill Trilogy which showcased three coming-of-age works for teenagers and young adults. The trilogy included the world premiere of Girl Asleep, which went on to become an award-winning film, and will return to the stage in Adelaide in the second half of 2019.

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