“SKIN as white as snow, lips as red as blood, hair as black as ebony”… you know these words from the story of the girl with the envious stepmother, who escapes and is looked after by seven very little people.

Yes, it’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” one of the archetypal European fairytales.

But what if I talked of “skin that glows like a pearl, hair as black as night”. You wouldn’t know I was talking about the story of “Wulamanayuwi and the Seven Pamanui”.

Wulamanayuwi is the young girl with the strangely-coloured skin, and she’s got seven little brothers, maybe spirit creatures? And her father is about to marry a nasty woman, insanely jealous of Wulamanayuwi. Sounds familiar.

It’s got Kylie Farmer thinking. She plays that young girl, a Tiwi Island Snow White, in “Wulamanayuwi and the Seven Pamanui”, coming to the Playhouse as the NT’s contribution to our Centenary.

What if our most disturbing stories are universal ones? Wouldn’t that mean that human beings, black or white, are inextricably linked?

“Jason [writer Jason De Santis] wanted to show how closely a story is aligned with those of classic European fairytales,” she tells “CityNews”. “He wanted indigenous and white Australian audiences to interact with the dreamtime fairytales.”

Farmer, who’s performed at Shakespeare’s Globe in London for the Cultural Olympiad, got her start in live theatre with Waa’s Yirra Yaakin company. More recently, she’s strayed towards the big and small screens until offered this unique role by director Eamon Flack in a play that combines film, puppetry and live action in a way not unlike kids’ theatre, where she started. Coming from the Nyungar/Bibbulmun nation in WA, she’s had to learn a whole new language.

This show is anything but kids’ stuff. She describes her character as “a witty and strong young lady, coming into her own, entering womanhood”, and whose mother died giving birth to her.

The wicked would-be stepmother, played by her real-life cousin Natasha, aims to steal the soul of her father – “a nasty piece of work that one!” Farmer says.

While about 40 per cent of their audience members have been children, it’s the adults who laugh louder.

“There’s a strong element of evil” in the show, she explains, that sees “some kids cry and run back to their parents… it’s good that when the kids hear the adults laugh, they feel more comfortable.”

“Wulamanayuwi and the Seven Pamanui” at The Playhouse, April 10 to 13, bookings to 6275 2700 or canberratheatrecentre.com.au