Defining Snakeface is no straightforward task. This may very well be playwright and performer Aliyah Knight's point. This lexically dense and emotionally saturated work delves into complex messages that are messy, slippery, and defy containment. These evocative themes mirror the fluidity and fragility of both body and mind within the cultural narratives explored, including trauma, rage, sexuality and the reclamation of identity.
Medusa is a figure that is historically misunderstood, vilified, and feared, yet pulsing with immense power and righteous rage. Director Bernadette Fam reimagines Medusa as a survivor and a force in restoring agency. She emphasises that this work is not about generalising victimhood but about exploring the war on Black bodies and how they have historically been vessels for trauma through systemic racism and commodification.
Knight challenges audiences to confront discomforting themes of violence, fetishisation, and generational pain, while creating space for Black joy as a radical act. This coexistence suggests that through embracing both, a process of self-liberation can begin. In this reimagining, Knight transforms Medusa’s serpents from a curse into a crown, and their fury into something sacred.
This one-act, single-actor monologue play explores modern day complexities of creation and destruction, with Snakeface embodying both the artist and the clay. A figure of immense potential, they are unsure of how to direct their power, torn between shaping and being shaped by their past.
Central to the play is the character’s defiance against societal expectations of women. In rejecting the ongoing stigma that women’s bodies and sexuality should be controlled or hidden, Snakeface embraces their sexual agency, using it as a tool for empowerment. This act is integral to their journey of self-discovery, allowing them to rewrite the narrative imposed by society.
This is represented through fragmented, poetic prose and screen text to mirror the protagonist's fractured psyche and emotional turmoil, while emphasising the visceral nature of their journey. The disjointedness of this journey of pain and healing mirrors the fraught relationship between personal autonomy and physical embodiment.
A coffin-like clay slab serves as a central, symbolic element. Malleable, shiny, and seeping, it embodies both the solace and burden of trauma, as well as the fragility of Snakeface's existence. Its fluidity and adaptability mirror the body's own responses to external forces, highlighting the intimate connection between relationships and flesh. As the piece progresses, the clay hardens and cracks on the surfaces and Snakeface’s skin, tightening like scales, or raw wounds, serving as a constant reminder of the delicate balance between destruction and creation.
A profound meditation on identity, power, and the messy, beautiful process of reclaiming oneself, Snakeface is a bold addition to Fruit Box Theatre’s mission of amplifying queer voices and challenging limiting narratives. Aliyah Knight’s stunning debut embodies this commitment to intersectional representation, artist wellbeing, and collaboration, offering an unflinching, enlightening experience.
This production exemplifies the ethos of Belvoir’s 25A program, which supports emerging artists in creating essential theatre that celebrates acting, story, and community. Snakeface rises to this challenge—brave, audacious, and unapologetically real—making it a standout piece within the program and a testament to the transformative power of independent, community-based theatre.
It opens at Qtopia Sydney Loading's Dock Theatre on 8-27 April 2025