Forget the glass slipper. This April, Theatre Works flips the script on a familiar fairytale with Mara, a sharp new reimagining of Cinderella told from the stepmother’s point of view.
Written by Paris based Australian playwright Hanna Pyliotis and directed by Megan Jones, the work reframes Charles Perrault’s fable as the story of a woman trapped inside a narrative she never chose. Mara begins as a spirited young woman who sees marriage to a wealthy widower as her way out. Instead, the promise of reinvention curdles. The family won’t blend, her husband disappears, and she is left raising a stepdaughter who will never love her.
“At Theatre Works, we’re really drawn to work that interrogates power, gender, and inherited narratives, and Mara does that in a very clear and fearless way”, explains Executive Director Dianne Toulson.
“It’s a piece that asks, who gets to be seen as monstrous? And who gets to be forgiven? Those questions landed very strongly for us, particularly in a moment where blended families and women’s ambition are still so heavily judged.
Mara isn’t a villain origin story, it’s a reckoning. There’s a point in the piece where the fairytale scaffolding falls away and you’re left sitting with a woman who made choices, believed in a future, and paid a price for it. And that’s incredibly powerful.”
Performed by Aurora Kurth in a demanding one actor turn, the production blends Brechtian storytelling, contemporary fairytale aesthetics and Poor Theatre traditions. A live musician builds a layered, Foley inspired soundscape as ten characters flicker into being across the black box stage.
Running for two weeks only in St Kilda from 22 April -6 May 2026 Mara has also been selected for the 2026 VCE Theatre Studies Playlist. Bookings via www.theatreworks.org.au/2026/mara
