The Wild Bride

Synopsis

In a stunning elemental world of petals, clay, fire and orchards, here is a lyrical story with a brutal edge and a beating heart. It's the story of what happens when your father accidentally sells you to the devil. Betrayed by her silly father, our heroine walks into the wilderness, rejecting not only the devil, but also her home and trusting heart as well. In the wilds she meets a Prince and becomes pregnant, but when he is called to war, her heart breaks as she is forced to step out on her own again. Alone she brings up her child, and - wonder of wonders - her broken heart grows back. Perhaps this is happily ever after, perhaps that is even more joy to come...

Our Review:

Michael Coveney - 13 September 2011

Kneehigh make vital new theatre out of mouldy old stories, and director Emma Rice’s latest project is a lively and characteristically overloaded version of the Grimm fairytale more usually known as The Handless Maiden, in which a miller barters his daughter to the devil by mistake.

Stuart McLoughlin’s devil, the show’s manipulative narrator, makes the impoverished father – “I’m so poor I can’t even pay attention” — cut off the fiery girl’s hands, which remain clean after he’s determined to make her filthy. She’s doused in a liquid mud bath, but her mitts stay gleaming.

Then, her identity switching from Audrey Brisson’s pubescent girl – and there’s something sinister and sexual about the abduction – to Patrycja Kujawska’s brilliant blonde virtuoso violinist, she’s suddenly rendered helpless with stumps. She becomes a bestial sprite in the forest, b...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

Jon - 18 October 2011:

First half excellent, second half not so good. The play is a mishmash of Faust, Company of Wolves, Billy Connolly (the awkward session where the father /Price / King talks to the audience)and every fairy tale you can think of with a girl lost in the forest. Too many ideas from too many cultures and it couldn't make up its mind to be serious and erotic or just plain slapstick. The changes of the cast were confusing and the second half inert. I would have made it much darker and with a lot more lust and eroticism from the devil....

Read more and add your own review

Related Whatsonstage.com Articles

Another Day, Another New Play Review Round-up: Kneehigh Bring Wild Bride to Lyric Opening: Wild Bride, Naughty Bits, Poliakoff City & Mother More»