Hello!
Little Wolfie is a new translation and adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's 1894 play Lille Eyolf, by company director Invi Brenna. Rather than being a stiff drawing-room affair, the show aims to embrace the symbolism found in all of Ibsen's plays, but especially his last ones, and put it on stage alongside the personal and societal drama everyone's come to expect.
Ibsen wrote Lille Eyolf as a contemporary drama, and so Little Wolfie is a contemporary theatre piece; the Allmers family have been moved to 2016 England, the walls of their sitting room are made of string and their son Wolfie is played by a puppet. However, their problems are as relevant and real today as they were 122 years ago: How do you handle your own personal failures? What do you do if your disabled son wants to do things he'll never be able to, like join the army? Who's your closest family member, your wife or your only sister?
It is a lesser-known Ibsen, but we dare say there are many great reasons why we picked this one: There are TWO strong and highly different women who both face a multitude of struggles, and two men with equally opposing views on life. It deals with the aftermath as much as it deals with the buildup to an event, a rare treat in drama but increasingly popular in our post-apocalypse-obsessed world. Also, in our achievement-centred society it deals with the tender topic of failure.
Why start from scratch and re-translate?
The idea to re-translate one of Ibsen's plays came three years ago, after reading an English translation of Hedda Gabler for the first time and finding that both the humour and the symbolism in the play had been lost in translation. It turned out not to be the only one; in general, translations of Ibsen into English are suffering from two things: The translator has not been a native Norwegian speaker and/or sufficiently knowledgeable about the idioms, humour and symbolism to pick up on them, or the translator has not treated the text as a dramatic one for the stage, but rather for a reading audience. It speaks to the quality of Ibsen's plays that despite the sub-par translations, productions based on them have gone on to do well. However, with a better foundation and understanding, even better shows should be possible.
We hope to be able to do more of Ibsen's plays in the future, but to get the ball rolling, we need your help. Going to the Fringe is huge for us in showing off our efforts, garnering interest and telling the world that there is a lot more steam left in Ibsen.
Who are we?
The cast:
Emma Peadon as Rita Allmers
Juliette Guillot as Esther Allmers
Tapiwa Mugweni as Alfred Allmers
Zsombor Barna as Peter Borgheim
Grace Toby as Miss Warg
The crew:
Isabel Schmier and Invi Brenna
(And many thanks to our literary dramaturg Lucy Coren!)
Little Wolfie will be going to the Fringe as a team of 7 people - plus a puppet.
What will we use the funding for?
The amount listed as the goal is what we need to pay to house the entire company - cast and crew - for the duration needed. Simple.
Though Little Wolfie is a team of 7, financially speaking, Fox and Orchid Theatre Company is footing all the bills - and the company is technically only one person. As a new company with no funds of its own, I am paying for the venue, insurance, marketing materials and currently the accommocation and other expenses out of pocket, not to mention the opportunity cost of taking endless hours of my life to make this show come to life in the first place.
It seems that it is fairly common practice to require performers to pay for their own accommodationin situations like these, but I have a firm belief that whether or not you have the funds should not decide whether or not you can take an opportunity like this. Also, though I hope that I am providing the cast and crew with a valuable opportunity, they too are putting a lot of their time and effort into this project. This should be something they are paid for, not something that they pay to do. I might be a bit of an idealist here, but I am putting my money where my mouth is - and I hope you will appreciate this and join me.
Of course, we hope to sell enough tickets to recover our costs and make a profit to share, but as is commonly accepted, you do not go to the Fringe to make a huge profit from your run. Also, that is all a few months in the future, whereas all the bills need to be paid NOW.
Rewards - t-shirts and postcards!
If we're sending you something by mail we'll include a copy of a zine as well. :)
Want to know more?
Please don't hesitate to contact us!