In the 1200AD Chronicon Anglicanum, Ralph of Coggeshall documented the tale of the Wild Man of Orford. Describing a naked wild man, covered in hair, the mysterious figure was caught in the nets of local fishermen around 1167. Mute and feral, the man was imprisoned in Orford Castle for six months before vanishing without a trace. Accounts of the era questioned if the captive was a merman, though it would be centuries until such a story could be reconsidered as a mental health problem.
Using the power of words and storytelling, Fishskin Trousers by Elizabeth Kuti, weaves together the haunting tales of three lost people from different eras, united by the mysteries of the island of Orford Ness, directed by Robert Price, and with a cast that includes Brett Brown, Jessica Carroll and Eva Traynor.
From the 12th century, Mab gives an eye-witness account of the legendary Wild Man of Orford, caught in the nets of fishermen. Eight hundred years later, at the height of the Cold War, Ben, a young Australian scientist, hears strange noises on the Ness as he tries to fix the island’s radar system. While local teacher Mog, in 2004, is compelled home to Orford when struck with a terrible dilemma.
Suffused by the landscape and traditional folk tales of East Anglia, these echoing voices intertwine to reveal how the stories of human lives connect in the most surprising and intimate ways, though decades – and even centuries – separate them.
Fishskin Trousers is at The Park Theatre 17th October – 11th November.
