The Wild Bride
You somehow expect a marquee in a muddy field. But The Asylum is a nomadic canvas cathedral of geodesic domes with room for 1000 people and a performance space predisposed to magic.
A scene from The Wild Bride at The Asylum, Tywarnhayle Farm, Blackwater, Truro
Which is exactly what Kneehigh delivers in this eviscerating morality tale about a sweet-natured father tricked into selling his beloved daughter to the devil.
Her archetypal journey from wilderness to redemption resonates far below consciousness, and director Emma Rice has combined music, dance, poetry and design to create an intense theatrical experience that careens you from horror to wonder, pathos to comedy, in milliseconds.
Audrey Brisson, Patrycja Kujawska and Eva Magyar play the daughter at three different ages, powerfully expressing in song and movement her pain, chaos, survival, and ultimate transformation.
Each achieves moments of shocking beauty and insight, and the tripartite portrayal gives extra dynamic and depth to the character and action as the women are there all the time, embodying the daughter’s past and future in her present.
Memorable music from Stuart Goodwin, Stuart McLoughlin and Ian Ross is at the heart of this show, majoring on blues, perhaps, but spanning numerous styles that reflect and underpin the emotional narrative.
It’s no accident that Kneehigh avoid the word ‘cast’ and use ‘performer’ to describe the multi-skills each member uses in work that avoids the confinement of more conventional drama.
Bill Mitchell’s design perfectly captures the elemental, primordial spirit in which this extraordinary show deals - not surprisingly, as he now directs his own landscape theatre company, Wildworks.
Production information
- By:
- adapted by Emma Price, who also directs, lyrics by Carl Grose, music by Stu Barker
- Management:
- Kneehigh Theatre
- Cast:
- Audrey Brisson, Phil Brodie, Stuart Goodwin, Patrycja Kujawska, Eva Magyar, Stuart McLoughlin, Ian Ross
- Design:
- Bill Mitchell
- Sound:
- Simon Baker
- Lighting:
- Malcolm Rippeth
- Costumes:
- Myriddin Wannell
- Choreography:
- Etta Murfitt
Production information can change over the run of the show.
Run sheet
- Tywarnhayle Farm Truro
- August 16-26 2011
- Lyric Hammersmith London
- September 12-24 2011
- Playhouse Oxford
- September 27-October 1 2011
- Northern Stage Newcastle-upon-Tyne
- October 4- 8 2011
- Old Vic Bristol
- October 18-22 2011
- Minerva Chichester
- November 1- 5 2011
- Everyman Cheltenham
- November 8-12 2011
- West Yorkshire Playhouse, Courtyard Leeds
- November 15-19 2011
Content is copyright © 2012 The Stage Media Company Limited unless otherwise stated.
All RSS feeds are published for personal, non-commercial use. (What’s RSS?)
