Interview: 'She's Such An Extraordinary Character!': Actor Katy Stephens on Playing The White Witch in THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe has been touring across the UK and Ireland and is roaring back into London later this month at Sadler’s Wells. The show, which started touring directly from the West End after it closed, brings the classic novel to life, with Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Pevensie being transported to the magical world of Narnia.

Recently, we had the chance to speak with Katy Stephens, who plays the infamous and iconic White Witch in this production of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. We discussed what her research process has been like for the role, what it’s been like touring the show and how making trouble in school led her on her path to the world of theatre.

How did you first get started in theatre?

Oh, that's quite a long story, but I got into a lot of trouble at school![Laughs] I wasn't a particularly well-behaved teenager, and there was a point in my school career where it was make or break. But I had a really fantastic drama teacher, David Dalton, and he felt that I just wasn't challenged enough at school, so he put me into lots of different extra curricular activities - which I absolutely couldn't stand! - but including drama. So I began to find a world where I felt at place and suited me. And not long after that, I got into the National Youth Theatre when I was fourteen, and things sprung from there!

And what made you want to be a part of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe? 

Well, there were a lot of layered reasons, really! Firstly, the director, Michael Fentiman. I'd worked with him numerous times before, and I think he's an absolutely fantastic director, so I knew it would be wonderful to work with him again. I had never seen the show myself, but I'd heard so many lovely things about it. And of course, it's an iconic book as well - not one that I read as a child, but one that I've now read and absolutely fell in love. And who wouldn't want to play the White Witch?

That actually leads perfectly into my next question! What is it like playing such an iconic villain?

Oh, it's fantastic, because she's so full-blooded. She's such an extraordinary character! I've done a huge amount of Shakespeare, and she really chimes with a lot of the Shakespearean ladies that I've played, particularly the very strong queens - I'm thinking of Lady M [Macbeth], Margaret Anjou and Cleopatra. She's majestic, corrupt, brilliantly intelligent, quick-witted and very intense but also, like the Shakespearean queens, she has a wild edge to her as well. A warrior queen, really.

And I took a lot of inspiration from The Magician's Nephew, which is the prequel - written afterwards - to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. She's younger then, obviously, and at the very beginning of her conquering, and she's punk rock! She robs jewellers, she hijacks a cab and she rips a lamppost out of the ground in London, which is the one that we end up seeing in Narnia.

She's hugely layered, and I love to think of her during The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe as slowly thawing. With the return of Aslan and with the Pevensie children turning up in Narnia, as the land of Narnia that she has frozen for 100 years begins to thaw, she actually begins to thaw as well. By the end, she's more akin to the Jadis of The Magician's Nephew. So I like to bring her full circle to that punk rock, wild child that she was.

What was your preparation process like for this role? Did it greatly differ from your preparation for Shakespearean roles?

It didn't, really! I always start with the text - bury your head in the text for a couple of months and see how that inspires you. And then you go into rehearsals, and the director and all the creatives and cast around you help you to mould the the character as well.

But what I found hugely inspiring was the illustrations by Pauline Baynes. They’re such simple black and white drawings, but there's so much to them, and I spent a lot of time looking at the illustrations. I love the one when she [The White Witch] turns up and she first meets Edmund on the sleigh, she's this scrawny, sour-faced, miserable woman with long, dark lank hair. So we'll take inspirations from all sorts of things!

Of course, because of the Christian allegory, I dipped into the Bible and read a lot about CS Lewis himself. What I found particularly inspiring about CS Lewis's own story is that he lost his mother when he was nine years old, and the story goes that he had a toothache in the middle of the night, and he cried out for her, but of course, she wasn't there - she had died. I always found that really moving, in terms of the Pevensies being evacuated, being apart from their parents, and the fact that Edmund could be so easily seduced by the Queen. As actors, we draw from all sorts of things. With the thawing of Narnia, even the coming of Spring this year was a great inspiration for some moments in the play!

Was there anything surprising that stood out to you while you were doing this research?

One of the stories I loved most from doing the research was about CS Lewis and his epiphany, that it actually happened on the way to Whipsnade Zoo. He was always rocking between being a Christian and an atheist, but the final moment came on the way to Whipsnade Zoo and, possibly, that's why the Christ character Aslan manifested as a lion!

And how has it been bringing The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe on tour?

Oh, I cannot believe how it is going down. It's such a huge success! Audiences everywhere are going crazy for it. We're packed out everywhere. We've been putting extra matinees in some cities because we've sold out, and people are baying for tickets. But the response from audiences across the board has just been absolutely fantastic, because it's a beautiful, spectacular, warm, funny, sad, poignant show. And it's a show that really changes people, because all the messages within it are so beautiful.

Of course, because it is a family show, it's lovely to have 1000s of school children in. You can hear a pin drop - they're so enwrapped by it! And to think, in this age where they have so much technology at their fingertips, a live performance can still captivate them in this way . . . It's so encouraging, so heartwarming.

What is it like adapting - nearly every week - to a new theatre and a new city? 

Well, some theatres have brought their own challenges because some have just been physically too small for the show. But that doesn't make the city any less deserving of having a performance there! For example, we always knew we were going to play Brighton Theatre Royal, and we knew that that would be a tough one, because it’s so small and so beautifully old.

So over the weeks we rehearsed a “scratch” version of it with less of the effects. But what's been a wonderful surprise about that is how the show is still wonderful without all its smells and bells. Because it's such a beautiful story, and it's so beautifully performed by everybody and directed by Michael, it can be a black box performance and still be just as captivating.

What do you hope audiences take away from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe?

I would just like them to go away with a really nice, warm feeling in their belly, particularly at the moment where it feels like the baddies are winning, like evil is overwhelming. I think it's really lovely to watch a show - or even be in a show - where good wins.

And finally, how would you describe The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe in one word?

Spectacular!

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