The Selkie Bride
17/03/2007 - 17/03/2007
Capital E National Arts Festival
Production Details
Created by Rebekah Wild
Co-directed by Howard Gayton & Karen Torley
Designer / puppet-maker: Lindie Wright
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.
Artform: 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.
Public performance: Sat 17 March, 11.30am Capital E Main Hall, Civic Square. Tickets $10.50
Performed by Rebekah Wild and Fran Kora
Theatre , Children’s , Puppetry ,
55 mins, no interval
Age old magic
Review by Sarah Delahunty 14th Mar 2007
It was wonderful to me, in this age of technological marvels, to see the reaction of the audience of six and seven year olds to the appearance of the shadow of a fish on a small lighted square of material. They were immediately focused and amused by this tiny creature and as the puppets emerged – fish swimming, seagulls hovering above on sticks … They reacted much as I would expect of children before the age of electronic entertainment.
The puppets are all beautifully made from tiny flashes of silver fish to the large seagull with attitude and the actors handle them with great skill, often also creating the accompanying sound effects. The scale of the action is always fairly small, at times the actions is slow and detailed, needing concentration, and it is a tribute to the performers that the audience remained involved from beginning to end.
The set consists of several different sized wooden boxes and a large oar, which are moved round to effectively create a fisherman’s boat, the inside of his house and ,with the help of a large piece of material, the sea.
In this old Celtic legend, seals are known to come out of the sea, shed their skins and dance on the shore, becoming a selkie. A fisherman falls in love with one of these, takes her skin from her and takes her as his wife. In the end, in this version, she shows him how she longs for the sea and he gives back her skin and lets her go.
We are told this story right at the beginning and I wonder if that needs to happen. I wonder if the dramatic tension of the story might be heightened by not knowing the outcome. Because, for me, the only flaw to this beautifully executed piece is that I feel the story too often takes second place to set changes and effects. So while I admire and enjoy the puppets themselves, I am not drawn into the emotional side of the story. Particularly when the Selkie is rushing to get back to the sea and the whole set has to be moved about. And sometimes the fisherman seems so busy moving things round his house or boat that there isn’t time for their relationship to deepen. But I also feel that as these changes become more familiar, this feeling of busyness could disappear.
There are many highlights – the Selkie’s first exploration of a human house is gorgeous, the use of domestic items from the house as part of creatures in the ocean is inspired and the wave effect with material and light is hugely effective.
And overall, seeing children spellbound at the sight of two actors operating the body of one small wildly beautiful Selkie puppet makes me very grateful that there are such talented and skilful people out there still working this age-old magic for our children.
[The production is currently part of the Festival’s Education Programme season. For details of the public performance, click on the show title at the top of this review.]
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