POETICAL PUPPETS – AND STORYTELLING THEATRE WITH AN ABUNDANCE OF BEAUTIFUL IMAGES
The tree stands as if in a magical hole. It is well over one hundred years old. Here, Frida has her secret spot high up in the tree. It is here she flees to when she learns that her family is moving to a new place, a long way from the tree, which is called Old Boy (...)
With Elise Müller as the friendly storyteller, it is like seeing a picture book come to life in the darkened auditorium. The words too are like a picture book's, a reflective, well thought out picture book with clever sentences and nothing superfluous. (...) The story ends as it must. Frida is brought down from the tree by her grandfather, discretely played by Lars Begtrup, the family moves, and Old Boy and Frida are separated. (...)
MAGICAL WORLD OF PICTURES
Slowly and calmly the story is told and played so everyone, even the very youngest, can follow. Occasionally, the narrative is interrupted by almost meditative like sequences of music, shadow puppets and video projections (...) The tree is at the centre, the branches, the leaves, the moss - it's like being there oneself with the all-encompassing darkness as a wonderful and unreal contrast.
Teateravisen, 3rd May 2017
A child's threat never to come home again becomes a moving piece of puppet theatre in Meridiano Theatre's play, 'Wild'
Children hate change. So do many adults. But for children, something like moving can be absolutely insurmountable – creating raging frustration and anger. Meridiano Theatre has transformed these feelings into the picturesque and harmonious play, WILD.
Theatre Magician, Giacomo Ravicchio, has, once again, created a puppet that exudes so much life on stage that one forgets it is not a real child. Puppeteers, Elise Müller and Lars Begtrup, guide 'Frida' gently up the show's alluring climbing tree. High up to her favorite branch where she can lay and look up into the sky with her thoughtful eyes; for she will most definitely not move with her family – and she will never come down again.
A DIFFICULT NIGHT
Actress Elise Müller narrates Frida's story with a loyal tone of voice and gentle gaze. As the good fairy, she allows Frida to be precisely so sad that one can easily understand that she has made the tree her best friend.
RESPECT FOR THE CHILD
WILD is not just an aesthetic puppet play. It is also a show that respects a child's powerlessness when her parents order the child to do something the child cannot readily cope with. The audience – the 3 to 99-year olds - will themselves be able to place the performance on a scale where it is most relevant for them: from the nuclear family's "now you'll get your own room, once we move," to the uncertain break up of a divorce or the fleeing child's traumatic fear. Perhaps the best part is, WILD doesn't contain any empty clichés about the family's move ending well. Rather, it is understanding that pervades the performance. A loving understanding that consoles.
Information 19th May 2017
Wild is a wonderfully simple and touching piece of puppet theatre. Simple, poetical, and so universally human with a story that touched me so deeply that five minutes into the performance, I had tears running down my cheeks and once again at the end as the play reached its climax.
Every living soul in the auditorium was clearly spellbound by Frida and her world. There is literally something for everyone - the play is for 3 to 99-year olds. It's about being one with nature, life, death, our ancestors, and old age. Everyone who is capable of loving should see this play. With heart touching, beautiful images, created through the use of light, shadow, and music, Meridiano Theatre master the poetry of the universe.
An absolutely wonderful show for all ages. 5 big stars to Meridiano.
Livingmama. May 2017