The Selkie Bride
Sat 17 March, 11.30am Capital E Main Hall, Civic Square. Tickets $10.50
NZ Premiere
Wild Theatre, New Zealand
For the first time, internationally acclaimed puppeteer Rebekah Wild brings the Celtic tale of The Selkie Bride to New Zealand . Originally developed for one of the UK 's top puppet theatres, the Little Angel Theatre, with puppets designed and made by Lyndie Wright. Selkies are mysterious creatures, living as seals in the sea but able to shed their skins and take on human form. Selkies are seen dancing on the rocks in the moonlight, always returning to the sea... unless... It is told that if someone finds a Selkie's skin and keeps it, that the Selkie can never return to the sea again. This magical show tells of a mischievous Selkie who meets a fisherman adrift alone in a storm at sea, and how life changes for both of them.
What to ExpectArtform: Puppetry, storytelling, performance and a transforming set to excite and enlighten.
This classic Celtic folk tale is adapted using traditional puppetry and storytelling techniques to present a moving show performed by Rebekah Wild and Fran Kora. A simple set of fishing boxes and a silken sea transform into a boat, a rocky island and a fishing cottage. The puppets range from the beautiful tabletop style Selkie, through seals, seagulls and a lobster to tiny shadow puppets and everyday objects that transform into jellyfish and shoals of minnows.
Stories of Selkies appear all around the Arctic Circle, wherever seals and fishing communities make their homes. Despite all the variations between and within different cultures, the Selkie stories seem to me to have these themes in common: love and loss, and of reaching across borders to understand life in a different world. Our story is of a Selkie who meets a fisherman adrift alone in a storm at sea. Life on land must seem very strange to a Selkie, and the fisherman's life will change as well! A life under the sea is magically evoked, while the Selkie on land makes mischief in the house, combs her hair with a fishbone and feeds all the fish to a greedy seagull! A simple set of fishing boxes and a silken sea transform into a boat, a rocky island and a fishing cottage. The puppets range from the beautiful tabletop style Selkie, through seals, seagulls and a lobster to tiny shadow puppets and everyday objects which transform into jellyfish and shoals of minnows.
The show runs for approximately 55 minutes. Children aged 4-10 years will love this mysterious show about magical Selkies.
‘Beautifully lit, with the sounds of sea and gulls on a set of wooden fish boxes which transform into a house interior, seascapes and a fishing boat... this production entrances. We go out to sea with a fisherman who tells us the story of his grandfather and his Selkie bride, floating us off (with) spellbinding magic. The Selkie Bride is the wild free spirit of the tale, her grasp of land life providing much humour and later well handled sadness for the life she left beneath the waves. The Selkie puppet has a fey beauty, her fisherman husband is played with a nautical air by Anthony Best, while Rebekah Wild gives life to the many puppets including lots of marine life, sleek seals, gleaming mackerel and a greedy gull. Ordinary objects like a coffee pot or lampshade also transform simply and effectively into a lighthouse and a drifting jellyfish. The Selkie Bride holds children and adults alike in a moving tale of love. ‘ Review from Thelma Good, in Theatre Index.
Howard Gayton, Co-director Karen Torley, Co-director Lyndie Wright, Designer Rebekah Wild, Devised by/Puppeteer Rebekah Wild works in theatre in Aotearoa and internationally as a puppeteer, puppetmaker, deviser and stilt performer. She has worked in the UK , New Zealand , Belgium , Austria , U.S.A. , Croatia , Eire , Canada , Germany and Holland on stages from the West End to the Puppet Theatre Barge. In Europe Rebekah has worked with such companies as The Little Angel Theatre, Movingstage Marionette Theatre, Walt Disney Theatrical and the BBC. Most recently she was part of the creative team and a puppeteer in Silent Tide in Berlin . New Zealand companies include the New Zealand Puppet Theatre, Out of Hand Productions, CapitalE, Ake Ake Theatre Company and The Conch. Rebekah was the artist in residence for ‘Wild Creations’ in 2004, a Creative New Zealand / Department of Conservation project. WIth Gerhard Pichler, Rebekah has established the theatre company ‘Wild Theatre’. The first stage of ‘Fishing for Shadows’, an interactive theatre garden, premiered at the Driftwood and Sand festival in Hokitika in 2006.
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