September 27, 2011
Kneehigh Theatre return to the Playhouse with a fairy tale complete with a deer, but this is no Disney story of cuteness and bluebirds. This is a reminder of how visceral and brutal fairy tales really are, but also how fair as the good stand strong against The Devil.
The Wild Bride is based on a Hungarian folk tale called The Handless Maiden (yes, they get cut off in front of your eyes). The story will sound familiar even if you don't know it: a poor man has a daughter he loves very much but whom he accidentally sells to The Devil, who's knocking around just to cause trouble. The Devil tries to claim her but she's too clean, with pure hands, and an unbroken soul. The first two are quickly dealt with but her soul proves hard to break. The maiden meets a pear-growing prince and things start to go well, but The Devil is on hand to stir things up and claim his Cutie-pie.
The rhythm of this piece beats like a heartbeat through it. All the actors play instruments, and The Musician takes a turn as a stagehand now and then. You clearly have to be versatile to be part of Kneehigh. No-one walks when they could dance, or talks when they could rhyme or sing. The stage has an apple tree made of stepladders, and a dustbowl bareness, and I can see why the theatre is filled tonight with school parties of Theatre Studies students. If you want to see how to manage efficiently an array of props and several buckets of mud, blood and fire you can't do better than watch this.
Then again, some of those students might be studying the psychoanalysis of fairy tales. I won't bore you with all the theory, but do consider the significance of disempowerment by losing your hands, and the Freudian significance of the same actor playing the father and the prince. Meanwhile, three different actors play the heroine through the different stages of her life - Audrey Bissou as The Girl, Patrycja Kujawska as The Wild in her courtship, and Eva Magyar as The Woman. All through, the heroine is supported by her past and future selves, and as she grows into herself she becomes a powerful unified force.
This is a fantastically theatrical show - making use of all the tricks of the stage. It would be much less powerful as a film full of special effects. The references are so woven in together but as they fly past you can just make out The Blues of the American deep south, African landmine victims, Balkan music, Pan's Labyrinth, Angela Carter, Virago and the feminist fairy tales, the film Defiance with people spending WWII hiding out in the woods... and that's before you get onto all the countries the cast come from.
There's a lot going on, but it's subtle and unified. Just go and be amazed by the talent and vision of this company. I'd give it a 12A rating, but that said, if rich, fluent theatre is your thing, no-one does it better than Kneehigh.
The Wild Bride is based on a Hungarian folk tale called The Handless Maiden (yes, they get cut off in front of your eyes). The story will sound familiar even if you don't know it: a poor man has a daughter he loves very much but whom he accidentally sells to The Devil, who's knocking around just to cause trouble. The Devil tries to claim her but she's too clean, with pure hands, and an unbroken soul. The first two are quickly dealt with but her soul proves hard to break. The maiden meets a pear-growing prince and things start to go well, but The Devil is on hand to stir things up and claim his Cutie-pie.
The rhythm of this piece beats like a heartbeat through it. All the actors play instruments, and The Musician takes a turn as a stagehand now and then. You clearly have to be versatile to be part of Kneehigh. No-one walks when they could dance, or talks when they could rhyme or sing. The stage has an apple tree made of stepladders, and a dustbowl bareness, and I can see why the theatre is filled tonight with school parties of Theatre Studies students. If you want to see how to manage efficiently an array of props and several buckets of mud, blood and fire you can't do better than watch this.
Then again, some of those students might be studying the psychoanalysis of fairy tales. I won't bore you with all the theory, but do consider the significance of disempowerment by losing your hands, and the Freudian significance of the same actor playing the father and the prince. Meanwhile, three different actors play the heroine through the different stages of her life - Audrey Bissou as The Girl, Patrycja Kujawska as The Wild in her courtship, and Eva Magyar as The Woman. All through, the heroine is supported by her past and future selves, and as she grows into herself she becomes a powerful unified force.
This is a fantastically theatrical show - making use of all the tricks of the stage. It would be much less powerful as a film full of special effects. The references are so woven in together but as they fly past you can just make out The Blues of the American deep south, African landmine victims, Balkan music, Pan's Labyrinth, Angela Carter, Virago and the feminist fairy tales, the film Defiance with people spending WWII hiding out in the woods... and that's before you get onto all the countries the cast come from.
There's a lot going on, but it's subtle and unified. Just go and be amazed by the talent and vision of this company. I'd give it a 12A rating, but that said, if rich, fluent theatre is your thing, no-one does it better than Kneehigh.