When Rayisa Kondracki was 3 years old, she wandered onto the stage during a school Christmas pageant, pushed her older sister aside, and performed a song in her place.
Or so the family legend goes.
“Genuinely, my mom says that,” she laughs.
That Kondracki is a natural-born scene stealer should come as no suprise to fans of supernatural western Wynonna Earp, currently airing on Syfy in the U.S. and CHCH in Canada. When she made her debut as immaculately dressed and wickedly witty Constance Clootie (a.k.a. The Stone Witch) in the show’s fifth episode, “Diggin’ Up Bones,” she promptly had bad boy Revenant leader Bobo Del Rey (Michael Eklund) licking — or sucking, to be exact — her shoes. The kinky powerplay served notice that Constance is no ordinary villain.
But Wynonna Earp is no ordinary series, especially when it comes to its female characters.
“They’re writing such amazing parts for women,” Kondracki says. “I wanted to be on this show so badly.”
The Toronto native got her wish, nabbing the part of Constance with a single audition. Then the nerves set in. “I got really excited and then I thought, ‘Wait a minute, how am I going do this?'” she says. “I’ve never played a baddie before.”
To prepare for her role as a 25-centuries-old witch, Kondracki says she watched films like Snow White and the Huntsman and Maleficent. “I thought this is based on a comic book, and I want to have fun.”
She also contacted some real-life witches for a dash of authenticity. “When it comes down to the witchcraft, it’s work,” she says. “It’s really hard, and I just touched the surface, but [I learned] that actually casting spells is work and it’s tiring. And it’s really great that she does that in a different language because it immediately allows it to become a bit more formal and serious.”
Constance casts her spells in old Hungarian, which Kondracki learned by listening to audio recordings made by a dialect coach. “I would go on the streetcar or walk down the street listening to this old Hungarian and sometimes I would totally forget that someone could see me as I’m chanting under my breath,” she laughs. “So people just thought I was crazy for a few months here in Toronto.”
Kondracki puts her chanting skills to creepy use in this week’s new episode, “Walking After Midnight,” as Waverly Earp (Dominique Provost-Chalkley) and Doc Holliday (Tim Rozon) stand between Constance and a macabre item she desperately wants. “You have a little bit more of an opportunity to get to know her and her motivations, and you get to see a little bit more of her strength and where her powers lie,” she teases.
But don’t judge The Stone Witch too harshly. “Deep down it all stems from this place of desperation. She really wants something, and I hope that’s something that people will be able to relate to. That was what I sort of took, that behind it all, it’s rooted in something that’s actually really pure and lovely. She just really goes about it in a different way.”
And what about Constance’s complex and antagonistic relationship with Doc, whom she healed from tuberculosis and then banished to the bottom of a well? “I’ll keep it simple and say that it’s all about revenge. Both Doc and Constance are after it and connected by it,” Kondracki explains. “They both come from this other world and now find themselves in Purgatory, guns loaded.”
She says viewers can expect more fireworks between Constance and Bobo, too. “[Series creator and showrunner] Emily [Andras] had mentioned that they love to hate each other and they’ve probably hate f–ked once or twice,” she laughs. “You’ll see again later in the series that every time Constance meets Bobo, it’s different.”
While Constance has a contentious relationship with both Doc and Bobo, Kondracki is very complimentary of the actors who play them. “Michael Eklund is amazing,” she says. “He’s not just a really nice person, but he’s just a really generous actor. I can’t say enough what a welcoming cast this is. You know, sometimes you walk on a show and you have so many day players and they’re so focused on their stuff, but on this show they’re really like, ‘How do you like to work?’ and ‘What do you want to do?’ I arrived and Tim [Rozon] looked at me and said, ‘I’ve been waiting for you.’ He’s so generous and lovely to work with. They really make it fun, and I think that’s important, especially on a show like this. I think if you’re not having fun, it isn’t going to be fun to watch.”
Luckily for viewers, Kondracki — whose other TV credits include Good Witch, Bitten, and the upcoming CBC drama series Shoot the Messenger — says she had the time of her life on Wynonna Earp. “You don’t often get to play parts where it’s this far away from who you are and your center, but when you do, it’s so exciting. Constance and I are pretty different, and that’s the funnest part, just the chance to be someone else and put on these great clothes. It’s like being a kid again and you just get to play make believe.”
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‘Wynonna Earp‘ airs Fridays at 10 p.m. ET on Syfy in the U.S. and Mondays at 9 p.m. ET on CHCH in Canada
Note: Canadian viewers can live stream ‘Wynonna Earp’ on the CHCH website at 10 p.m. ET on Fridays and again at 9 p.m. ET on Mondays
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