The Wild Child

Based on true accounts of children raised by animals and "rescued" by humans, The Wild Child combines the story of a scientist attempting to civilize a feral child with the journey of an artist into a stark desert where she encounters a wild boy living among gazelles. Masks, shadow puppets, song, life-like bunraku puppets and original sound composition combine to create this rich and rewarding performance. The four-actor ensemble switches between characters, gazelles, and puppeteers before the audience's eyes, as the tight walls of the Doctor's closet dissolve into the spare beauty of the desert.

Created in collaboration with Signal Light Puppet Theatre.

Awards: 2004 Drammy Award, Outstanding Ensemble Performance (Jef Awada, Sarah Dyrhaug, Faith Helma & Bill Holznagel), 2004 Drammy Award, Outstanding Original Sound Compositino (Peter Musselman)

“In the early 19th century, a French scientist, Dr. Jean Itard, undertook the task of “civilizing” a feral child named Victor, who had been found in Africa. Hand2Mouth’s original production of The Wild Child takes dialogue verbatim from Itard’s report to craft a dreamy, eerie, and brutal drama. Interspersed with scenes from Itard’s sterile lab are glimpses of a sun-washed desert. This alternate vision of the wild child’s fate is based on artist Jean Claude Armen’s claims to have found a child living among the gazelles of the Sahara in the 1970s. Armen was fascinated by the child for what he was, not what he might become. Peter Musselman’s bewitching original music both distinguishes and links these separate worlds nicely. In this Drammy-winning work, director Jonathan Walters and concept originator Rachel Anthonisen demonstrate a capacity for both wild imagination and careful precision. The star of the show is Victor, an incredibly dynamic puppet created by Bill Holznagel. All four cast members have a hand in operating Victor. Each deserves praise for their ability to disappear behind it, to manipulate it as if they inhabited it. But Faith Helma gives the strongest performance, as her voice seems to dwell captive inside the child’s mouthless, wooden head. Brian Keith plays the rather cliche snooty evil doctor. This is a puppet show, after all, and the villains can be easily distinguished from the heroes. Yet it is the creation and complexity of Victor’s soul, brought to life by every member of this talented ensemble, that makes the project so unique

-Johanna Droubay, Willamette Week