A&E Q&A - Snow White, snow fright

Lisa Stock’s production of Snow, Glass, Apples takes a bite out of the EAV Farmers Market

With two new live-action versions of the famous fairy tale currently in production, it seems that Snow White has awakened from a proverbial pop culture slumber. But before either of the films hits the big screen, a group of accomplished local thespians is staging a retelling of the familiar story. Snow, Glass, Apples, based on the Neil Gaiman short story of the same name, is a dark take on the tale, portraying Snow White (Carrie Anne Hunt) as a supernatural being and told from the point of view of the stepmother/queen. Produced by Lisa Stock’s creative company InByTheEye, Snow, Glass, Apples is Stock’s directorial debut in Atlanta after relocating from the Big Apple after 20 years. Stock discusses the play, which runs Aug. 24-28 at the East Atlanta Village Farmers Market.

This is your first production in Atlanta, so let us know a little about your background.

Everything I do is heavily steeped in fairy tales and mythology. I like to put new perspectives on stories we’re so familiar with, which is what drew me to Gaiman’s story. For me the tales in their earlier forms are really compelling. I like flawed characters a lot and I like to see characters that are making mistakes and not trusting themselves, things I think we can all relate to. Fairy tales are wonderful character studies and the so-called villains are often the most interesting characters and the ones we remember the most.

Before the Brothers Grimm started adding the princes and huntsmen and changing the values, and changing the mother to a stepmother because they couldn’t believe that a real mother would be so awful to her child, they had a much harsher and more realistic look on the world. This story is from the stepmother’s point of view, which some people might consider the villain or the monster, and I feel like that’s just an ages-old tradition of looking at ourselves. When I’m doing Snow, Glass, Apples, I’m sort of focusing on what happens when we don’t trust our own instincts.

Why did you choose to do it at the East Atlanta Farmers Market?

We’re going to transform that space with lanterns, lighting, market people and musicians. I want the audience to literally walk into the tale. There’s a spring fair that’s mentioned in the tale, so I thought the market would be the perfect place with some vendor booths and a Lord of the Fair, who’s a character in the play and also the narrator. Then I have a forest chorus who are trees that hold branches and lanterns. They act almost like a traditional Greek chorus in that they’ll comment on the scene at hand, but through movement and reactions to what’s happening rather than through dialogue.

What are the biggest differences between your story and Gaiman’s original story, as well as the Snow White most people know?

It’s just from a different perspective. Snow White is somewhat of an unnatural being. Some would call her a vampire, but we’ve decided to make her vampire-like, but not a traditional vampire. Unlike a vampire, she ages in the story. The play opens with her heart being cut out, but she still walks on.

The biggest change from Gaiman’s story is I’ve brought a lot of the characters that are just mentioned in the story to life. We haven’t watered it down, which is why we’re cautioning parents very strongly. It’s pretty bloody and there are a lot of adult themes that we don’t think are appropriate for children. There is going to be a 6 o’clock showing on Sunday that will be a little more family-friendly, but it’s still scary.

Why are you so attracted to fairy tales, and this one in particular?

Snow White always frightened me as a child because she was taken out into the forest and this man was trying to kill her, then just left her there for dead. It was very unsettling to me the whole way through. The version we’re all familiar with is Snow White singing and loving the forest, the little men, the bunnies and the birds. Our Snow White is trolling the forest and feeding off of the forest and making it the dark place that it is. It’s also about her nature of endurance. I think this version is far more about survival and the traditional one is more about luck. It’s always been about jealousy, instinct and survival, but sometimes those things are stripped away to make it more black and white. This one’s a little more muddled.