Musicals, plays, operas, dance and ballets inspired by feral children

FeralChildren.com says In 1731, in the woods of France, a young girl is captured. Naked, armed with a club, an eater of raw flesh, she speaks no language. In absence of any other name, she is baptised Memmie Le Blanc.

The play begins with Memmie's arrival at the house of Catherine, an ageing widow who wants to save the child from her own dark past in order that she might have a normal future. Memmie does whatever she must to survive. But gradually, she begins to appreciate the benefits of civilisation, even if her primal needs are still stronger.

Their little world is shaken up with the arrival of Doctor George Legendre. His companion is an orangutan called Robert whom George has trained to do everything but speak. George wants Memmie for his own research, and knows her weaknesses: Memmie must struggle between the pull of her bestial and her human natures.

Hilary Bell's play Memmie Le Blanc was commissioned by South Coast Rep. It premiered in Perth in 2007, touring to Adelaide in 2008, co-produced by Vitalstatistix Theatre Company and Deckchair Theatre.

You can purchase the script for AUS$12 by following the link above.

FeralChildren.com says A play set in an ancient forest. A property developer encounters a feral child in a forest.

FeralChildren.com says A play.
The discovery of a supposed feral child in a remote region of Idaho, where 2000 thousand acres of old growth forest are scheduled to be harvested, have profound consequences for Roz Weber, her partner Stan Nikalaou, and her Vietnamese-born daughter, Zoë. As Zoë becomes the guardian of an ancient tree and Roz and Stan try to solve the mystery of the mute and traumatized child, their lives are shaken and ultimately threatened by corporate interests, a traditional medical establishment, the intrusiveness of the media, and the violence of white supremacists. Although TREED explores issues concerning the threatened forests and wildlife of the Northwest, as well as the painful history of its native people, at its center is the drama of an unusual family's enduring connections, regardless of biology, time, or distance. The play explores issues of loss, responses to crisis, and the challenges of re-invention involved in the lives of these compelling characters.
The author adds: TREED includes references to Amala and Kamala (and a brief appearance by the latter),as well as discussion of The Forbidden Experiment and modern instances of social isolation. In my play, Lili, the little girl discovered in an Idaho forest, is most certainly a socially isolated and traumatized child, rather than a feral creature raised by wolves, as suggested by the media. As with Genie, whose history I found both fascinating and very useful, questions concerning language development and the capacity for relationship are critical in Lili's story, which intersects in TREED with that of the voluntary isolation of an idealistic young woman who attempts to protect an ancient tree from the threat of a logging operation.

FeralChildren.com says A puppet show for children featuring an abandoned baby girl who grows up in the woods.

FeralChildren.com says A one-woman play first performed by Kristin Clippard in Cincinnati, USA in 2005.

FeralChildren.com says A play first performed in New York in 2006 and based on the story of Jostedalsrypa.

FeralChildren.com says Described by High Fidelity Theatre as: "An opera/theater work of three interlocking stories about children lost in the woods: Victor, a.k.a., The Wild Boy of Aveyron, a feral child found in France in 1800 after having spent his formative years in the wild and now lost in a forest of 'civilization'; Emily, a contemporary girl with Autism lost in a forest of antidepressants; and Hansel and Gretel of storybook fame, literally abandoned in the forest. Tabula Rasa examines the effects of nature and nurture, and the fundamental meaning of language and human relationships."

FeralChildren.com says A musical theatre production about Kaspar Hauser.

FeralChildren.com says Based on true accounts of children raised by animals and "rescued" by humans, The Wild Child is an original theatre piece in which two stark and beautiful worlds overlap. A scientist attempts to civilize a feral child, while a wanderer journeys into a desert populated by gazelles to escape the bonds of society. Performers, masks, shadow, a life-like Bunraku puppet, and original sound composition combine to create a touching and image-rich performance. The Wild Child is an invitation to experience the blurred boundary between animal and human behavior. In 2004, The Wild Child won two Drammy awards: ENSEMBLE PERFORMANCE by Sarah Dyrhaug, Faith Helma, Bill Holznagel, Jef Awada and ORIGINAL COMPOSITION by Peter Musselman.

FeralChildren.com says A play.
Expertly blending disparate source materials — the "secret" tapes of Richard Nixon and the biography of Kaspar Hauser — PLAN B wittily pits scheming power players against an innocent wild child to imaginatively explore the dynamics of loyalty, trust and betrayal.

FeralChildren.com says One summer's day, the peaceful life of a Suffolk village is disturbed for ever by a strange visitation. Who are the two children who seem to have come from nowhere, speak no English, will eat no food and -- most terrible of all-- are green from head to toe? The twelfth-century monks who chronicled the incident could offer no rational explanation. Are the children something to fear, to threaten, to exploit, to lust after, to love? Are they freaks or angels, imps or imposters? Wolfpit anatomises English society faced by dreadful choices, a known world trembling on the verge of the miraculous. A play in verse.

FeralChildren.com says A dance work.
Before dawn on January 9th 1800, a remarkable creature came out of the woods near the village of Saint-Sermin in southern France. Animal in behaviour, human in form, speechless and naked...he could not speak and made only weird meaningless cries. He appeared to be a boy of about eleven or twelve. During the night he had approached the lower part of the village, had entered the terraced garden of a tanner and had started digging for vegetables.
So starts the well documented case of the 'Wild Boy of Aveyron'...the boy was taken in and the experiment began. Wild Child takes this fascinating case history and uses it as a starting point for Ludus' most dynamic and exhilarating show to date. Entertaining and energetic, it explores the boundaries of "civilised" behaviour.

FeralChildren.com says An opera.

FeralChildren.com says Generally considered an immature work, this opera was written by the composer at the age of 13.

FeralChildren.com says A popular Viennese pantomime ballet inspired by reports of feral children. "The pair of boys found in the woods of Lithuania, the wild one from Hannover, and the young girl found near Champagne provided the inspiration for this little ballet. The story follows: while enjoying a hunt away from his homeland, a Polish prince, with the aid of his friend, discovers a wild maiden."
Description copyright © 2005 Bama Lutes Deal PhD of the UNCG School of Music, and is reproduced with permission. It is taken from her dissertation The Origin and Performance History of Carl Maria von Weber's Das Waldmädchen (1800).