Kneehigh Theatre Company presents: The Wild BrideIn the Cornish countryside, Kneehigh set up a tent named the Kneehigh Asylum. Here Kneehigh presented their performance of the Wild Bride, which was based upon The Brothers Grimm story, the maiden with no hands. The performance was in the round, and was very symbolic, using dance routines and light changes to represent pacing of time and events in the story.
The touching story was portrayed by a cast of six actors, three of which took it in turns to play the protagonist, who was the wild bride. This interesting idea was well played and the three allowed an audience to believe they were the same person. The way that Audrey Brisson played the youngest version of the bride was incredible. When the character had to have her hands cut off, her facial expressions showed the pain and suffering that someone in that position would feel. Another incredible performance was by Stuart McLoughlin who played the character of the Devil. His voice matched exactly what you’d expect the devil to speak like, if he was in that situation.
But the actors were not the only reason for the truly amazing spectacle. The musical numbers also created the atmosphere of the entire piece, all the numbers were written by Stu Barker with lyrics by Carl Grose. These musical numbers added to the atmosphere and allowed parts of the story to develop. Although the show contained a number of musical numbers, the show itself was not a musical, more a play with music like Willy Russel’s Blood Brother. Probably the most interesting
song was the song “Crossroads.” The chilling violin created a sense of fear among those watching the piece. As well as this the words added to this, stating that the “Devil said now you pay me. ‘cause nothing ever comes for free. At the Crossroads.”
Although I personally am not normally interested in the technical sides of a show, this show there was no possible way you could not be interested. The amount of light changes made the piece seem almost real. The use of red paint and brown paint to show blood and mud made the story’s horror come to life on stage.
A completely amazing show, telling the story of one girls struggle for freedom from the devil. This was the second show I have seen by Kneehigh and possible my favourite. I would recommend this show to anyone who loves a night where they laugh, cry and are pulled into an incredible story, although I would not recommend it to anyone aged under 12, possible even 14. The Wild Bride has now transferred to London and runs at the Lyric Hammersmith from 6th to the 24th September 2011.
Review by Sam
