Chatting to Margarita Valderrama and Kay Brattan
At Everything Theatre, we have a particular soft spot for those bold, intimate productions that aren’t afraid to get a little messy. This March, the North London stage is set to get a lot messier (and bloodier) as Little Lion Theatre Company brings the world premiere of Witch Girl Summer to Kentish Town.
Described as a “fast-paced, dark comedy” where Mean Girls meets The Blair Witch Project, the play follows an obsessive influencer whose quest for the perfect “glass skin” takes a turn for the supernatural. Forget standard multi-step routines; this protagonist finds herself trading fingernail clippings for rituals and discovering human limbs under her bed, only to realise she’s accidentally invited a murderous, blood-thirsty witch to share her body.
Written and produced by the award-nominated Margarita Valderrama and directed by Kay Brattan, this production marks an exciting collaboration between two London-based creatives originally hailing from Canada. Ahead of their run at The Lion and Unicorn Theatre from 10 to 14 March, we sat down with the team to talk about influencer culture, body horror, and why an “exorcism edition” of a Get Ready With Me (GRWM) video is the horrific catharsis we didn’t know we needed.
You’ve described the show as “Mean Girls meets The Blair Witch Project”. For those who haven’t seen it yet, how would you sum up the “horrific catharsis” of Witch Girl Summer in just a couple of sentences
Margarita: I’ve often described Witch Girl Summer as an exorcism of my nagging insecurities and resentments for the forces responsible. It’s a bid for shared laughter, an excuse to be ugly on stage, and hopefully, a reminder that “fixing” how we look cannot actually fix our relationships or how we feel about ourselves.
The play centres on an influencer’s obsession with achieving “glass skin”. What inspired you to use the world of beauty standards and social media as a backdrop for a supernatural horror story?
Margarita: During the pandemic, I descended into “Skincare Tok”. What began as an innocent education quickly soured into an ugly obsession driven by fear and loneliness. These platforms that should make us feel more connected seem to be dividing and isolating us; people are either idolized or vilified, and today’s hero becomes tomorrow’s villain—perfect fodder for a horror story.
Kay: Navigating beauty culture and the online space can feel like horror stories in their own right. If you strip away the pink packaging in a shop, many products could easily look like props from a horror film. Women quite literally bleed to meet certain beauty standards.
This production marks a collaboration between Colombian-Canadian writer Margarita Valderrama and Canadian director Kay Brattan. How has that shared heritage influenced the storytelling?
Margarita: We keep joking that Canadian theatre is obsessed with “Clown” with a capital C. One of my teachers once told me that a true clown show has to end with a mess on stage—we certainly deliver that.
Kay: Coming from a similar training background means we share a theatrical vocabulary. Even though Witch Girl Summer is a horror story, it definitely has the bones of a clown show.
Without giving too much away, what are the metaphorical “costs” of the unconventional methods the protagonist tries?
Kay: You can put a paint job on something, but it will never fix what’s rotting underneath. Obsessing over quick fixes does more damage in the long run.
Margarita: Community. The protagonist is isolated and drowning in loneliness, and her obsession with “fixing” her looks puts her in a vulnerable position – enter the Witch.
How do you balance the humour of influencer culture with the more visceral, blood-thirsty elements of the plot?
Margarita: Horror and comedy share a structure: a set-up that bursts into release. Writing the rapid back-and-forth between the absurd and the terrifying was a satisfying dance.
Kay: Comedy is a bullet train, and Horror relies on suspense and tension—this is a play that whiplashes between the two. The jump from camp to something genuinely unsettling can happen in a microsecond.
Why is The Lion and Unicorn Theatre the perfect “home” for a show like this?
Kay: The intimacy lends itself to a “fly on the wall” experience. It invites the audience to use their imagination alongside us, which is often more unsettling than anything shown directly to them.
Margarita: The L&U is perfect because it’s intimate and creates a tighter bond between the performers and the audience. They’ll see both the polished façade the protagonist projects and the messy reality lurking just out of frame.
Thanks to Margarita and Kay for finding the time to chat. Witch Girl Summer plays at Lion and Unicorn Theatre until Saturday 14 March.
