THEATER REVIEW
THE WILD BRIDE
St. Ann's Warehouse, 29 Jay St., Brooklyn; 718-254-8779. Through March 17. Running time: 120 minutes, one intermission.
'The Wild Bride" is based on an ancient story later turned into a fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, and it's grim indeed. Here we have the spectacle of a father cutting off his daughter's hands, a deer getting its eyes gouged out — it's a puppet, but still — and some comically mimed copulation.
All told, it's not for nothing that "The Wild Bride" is billed as "a tale for adults and brave children" (ages 8 and up). But thanks to the efforts of Kneehigh — the British theater company that also brought us a touching, multimedia "Brief Encounter" and a dazzling take on "The Red Shoes" — this inventive production is a bloody delight.
Richard Termine
Patrycja Kujawska, with Edward Scissorhands-style claws, falls into the lap of a Scottish prince (Stuart Goodwin) in Kneehigh's exhilarating adaptation of a Brothers Grimm tale.
The setting is an arid dust bowl, where an impoverished, hard-drinking father (Stuart Goodwin) lives with his young daughter (Audrey Brisson). One day he's visited by a fast-talking stranger (Andrew Durand) who offers to pay a handsome sum for everything in his backyard.
Thinking that it contains nothing but a barren apple tree, the father happily agrees.
Little does he know that the stranger is actually the devil — and that the deal includes his daughter who, unbeknownst to him, was playing in the yard.
"Did you have an inclination this was gonna happen?" the bereft father asks the audience.
Things grow worse when the devil realizes that he can't touch the young woman because of her purity. He coats her with mud, but her innocent tears wash her hands clean.
"I ain't got a woman problem, I got a hand problem," he declares, and orders the father to chop off the offending appendages.
The girl escapes the devil's clutches and becomes a wild creature (now played by Patrycja Kujawska) wandering in the woods. There she meets a jocular, kilt-wearing Scottish prince (Goodwin, again) who falls in love with her and outfits her with sharp metal hands, "Edward Scissorhands"-style.
But war soon intervenes, and thanks to the devil's machinations, the woman (now Etta Murfitt) winds up back in the woods, this time with a child in tow. Somehow, it all ends up happily.
There's as much singing and dancing as dialogue here, with several of the performers doubling as onstage musicians performing the largely original score by Stu Barker and Carl Grose. Director/adapter Emma Rice and choreographer/actress Murfitt move things along at an ebullient pace, and clever visual touches abound, such as the prince's mother portrayed as an oil painting with outreached hands.
The multitalented cast helps bring the elemental tale to stirring life. Kujawska plays a mean violin, while the women all dance terrifically. Goodwin is a hoot both as the father and the prince; Durand is devilishly charming as the demon who sings like a rock star; and the three actresses are wonderful at capturing each of the title character's different incarnations.
Never has such a dark tale seemed so enchanting. It's exhilarating enough to bring out the devil in everyone.
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