The Wild Bride: 2002
A retelling of The Girl Without Hands from the fairytales by the Brothers Grimm.
Adapted by Emma Rice, with text and lyrics by Carl Grose.
In a stunning elemental world of dust, clay and fire, here is a red hot story with a brutal edge and a beating heart…The story of what happens when your father accidentally sells you to the Devil.
Betrayed by her father, our heroine has those ‘cross-road blues’. She chooses to walk into the wilderness, rejecting not only the Devil, but her home as well. In the wild she meets a Prince and becomes pregnant, but when he is called to war, her heart breaks. She finds herself at those pesky crossroads again.
In the cool green of the forest, she brings up her child and, wonder of wonders, her broken heart grows back. Perhaps this is ‘happily ever after’. Perhaps there is even more joy to come.
This epic and poetic wonder tale is classic Kneehigh stuff, charting a life from child to adult. You can expect instinctive storytelling and a heady mix of live Blues music and devilish humour.
The Wild Bride is a grown-up Spring bud, dustball of a romance, for adults and brave children alike.
Influences and inspirations included:
- Women Who Run With Wolves by Clarissa Pinkol Estes
- The Great Depression
- Victims of African Landmines
- Robert Johnson
