Valentina Tóth’s FATAL FLOWER Unleashes the Wild Power of Female Rage

Part of the Big in Belgium Showcase, FATAL FLOWER is a tragi-comic ode to the hysterical woman, blending cabaret, opera, and classical music to explore female rage and identity. This multi-disciplinary solo show sees Valentina Tóth channel a series of grotesque female archetypes, drawing on her personal experiences as a child piano prodigy and the political backdrop of the Dutch childcare benefits scandal.

Ahead of the UK premiere at Summerhall Arts during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, we spoke to Valentina about the show, her journey, and the fierce power of female anger on stage.

For those who haven’t seen F ATAL FLOWER before, how would you describe the show in just one sentence?

FATAL FLOWER is a tragicomic, operatic, and wildly over-the-top ode to the hysterical woman.

What inspired you to create a performance that combines cabaret, opera, classical music, and comedy to explore female rage?

First and foremost, I wanted to create a show about female rage and hysteria. Female hysteria has many faces, and I aimed to explore as many as possible through different forms and styles—each one helping me bring out different layers of female rage and vulnerability.

Hysteria can be a heavy subject—tragic even—but within tragedy there’s always humour! I wanted my show to walk a tightrope between humor and darkness, lightness and weight. Before becoming an actress and theatre maker, I had a career in classical music as a child-prodigy pianist. This is a unique background, and I wanted to showcase every side of myself as a performer in Fatal Flower.

The theme of hysteria suits me perfectly; the hysterical woman is a figure I deeply relate to, it’s a character I play best; I love to play bold and grotesque characters. Exploring my voice in every possible way is a vital part of my artistic practice. For me, a song is the ultimate monologue and writing one is a delightful puzzle. Singing to me, communicates emotions and stories in ways that spoken text alone simply cannot. It often feels more intuitive — something that goes straight to the heart.

I love the variety of styles I get to sing in Fatal Flower — from kitschy electropop to horror-opera-style aria - think Sweeney Todd, a big inspiration of mine -, and even telenovela-style Spanish songs. But since I have a soft spot for both opera and hysterical women, I knew I had to include an over-the-top operatic moment as well: Mozart’s Queen of the Night aria. (After hearing that, I doubt anyone would still claim that classical music is calming!)

The show features a variety of bold, grotesque female characters—from the Queen of the Night to a vengeful bride-to-be. Which character do you find the most challenging or the most fun to perform?

Ha! Great question. Since this show was originally written in Dutch and then translated for The Fringe, some characters feel completely new to me! The character I enjoy playing the most is probably a strict Russian piano teacher — when I play her, all the brakes come off!

The most challenging character for me has been a Spanish telenovela protagonist. I play her in a scene about a Dutch political scandal — the Childcare Benefits Scandal, which is somewhat similar to the UK Post Office Scandal, by the way. I find her challenging for two reasons: I want to do justice to the story of this scandal, and I’ve also worked really hard on getting the Spanish accent right in English!

You’re blending very different performance styles—how do you balance these to keep the show coherent and emotionally powerful?

Making this show felt like a balancing act at times, with so many different styles, scenes, and characters coming into play. I felt a strong urgency to bring it to life, a kind of simmering, underlying anger that I wanted people to feel. At the same time, I sought a high degree of stylization. I try to let the hysteria gradually seep in; for example, I begin the performance quite calmly, but by the end, I’m going all out, quite literally! I view the show as one big crescendo.

Now that I think about it, I think stylized anger only really exists in art, haha!

How did your classical music background influence the musical and theatrical elements of the show?

In lots of ways! Since I come from a classical piano background, there’s a lot of classical music in the show. I write a lot of my own music too, and because of my classical training, my songs often turn into something close to opera—or at least operetta—without it being too obvious! I also weave many autobiographical elements into the performance: I share stories from my childhood as a piano prodigy and how much I felt out of place back then. I think the audience can feel that I’ve finally found my place now, in the theatre world, which feels like a great theatrical payoff!

Finally, if you could reclaim one misunderstood female archetype or stereotype through your art, which one would it be — and why?

Ooh, it’s so difficult to choose! If I had to pick, I’d embrace the broadest and most complex archetype — the “hysterical woman,” the woman often labeled as ‘too much.’ This archetype covers so many experiences: women who aren’t believed, women who hesitate to speak up, women who express rightful anger only to be dismissed as overly dramatic. In our society, many women still fear raising their voices. I want to show that these so-called hysterical women aren’t hysterical at all — they’re often completely justified; it’s the outside world that drives them to hysteria.

FATAL FLOWER runs at Summerhall Arts, Main Hall, 31 July – 25 August (not 12 & 19), 21:05 – 22:20. Tickets available at: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/fatal-flower