★★★★
Review: Wild Visions Untamed Myth by Katy Cawkwell and Lucy Lill. On tour throughout the UK.
[Disclosure: Our reviewer received free tickets for the purposes of this review.]
Wild Visions Untamed Myth is on its UK tour and stopped for one night only at Oxford’s Burton Taylor Studio last night. This show, created by story tellers Katy Cawkwell and Lucy Lill, is a vivid and immersive retelling of well-known Greek myths, generally from the female characters’ points of view. Story telling is a fundamental part of the way human communicate. It used to be our main form of entertainment, education and social connection. Now, it’s generally only comedians who fulfil that live story telling function for adults. So it was a real pleasure to have an evening of live story telling for adults, performed by two, extraordinarily gifted story tellers.
Katy Cawkwell
Wild Visions Untamed Myths was a little over 2 hours – with a 10 minute interval at the hour mark. In the first hour, Katy Cawkwell performed compelling stories about the union of the god, Zeus and Titaness Leto. Cawkwell’s performance was assured and immersive – evoking the sun, the river and the lush meadow – as well as bringing to life, in all its sensual detail, the union of Zeus and Leto.
Katy Cawkwell
Cawkwell’s story followed the birth of Artemis and Apollo and the development of Artemis from tiny little precocious girl into the powerful goddess of wild places. Cawkwell’s performative style radiates an aura of power and authority, and her storytelling, though approachable and warm, carries an unmistakable gravitas.
Lucy Lill Photo by Heard in London
By contrast, Lucy Lill inhabits her characters, breathing life into them and making them thoroughly relatable. Bringing modern day vernacular to these ancient stories, Lill’s impression of each character is full of humour, drama and realism. Through Lill's portrayal, we see the different approaches the fortune telling siblings, Kassandra and Helenus, take in coping with the knowledge of Troy's impending destruction.
Wild Visions Untamed Myth Trailer
The contrasting styles of each story teller complemented each other well and gave the audience a varied and entertaining evening. It’s no small feat to capture and hold the attention of a modern audience for two hours with nothing but your story telling skills. Wild Visions Untamed Myths is entertaining and fun – go and see it if you can.
If you enjoyed reading this review, you might enjoy reading the other review of shows at the Oxford Playhouse (of which the Burton Taylor Studio is a part) or other reviews about shows created by story tellers.
