*A PART OF MALMÖ SCENFEST 2026*
FREE ENTRANCE

Saturday 28th March 
Mazettisalen Friisg Malmö

14:45  BIRD TALK       by Kevin Benn
17:00  THE WOODS : a staged physical theatre reading; an adaptation and extract in English
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"THE WOODS": a staged reading
In collaboration with Theatre In-Balance
 

A strong British dramatic staged reading involving physical theatre; an adaptation and extract in English.

ABOUT THE PLAY "THE WOODS"
A tiny crumbling cabin, a home somewhere in the dark woods. Inside a mother, a man-child and outside prowls a wolf...

This dramatised staged reading is narrated on stage, using 5 actors and elements of mask, movement as well as dialogue in English.

With Joan Bentsen as the reader; Andrew Christiansen as the voice of the wolf; Lesley Leichtweis Bernardi as the body of the wolf, Vanessa Poole as the mother and introducing Lisa Simioni as the child.
[Language: English]
A reading envisioned and directed by Mariana Araoz, professor of Mask & Object Theatre and creator of the ©In-Balance method on stage.

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ABOUT THE READING "The Woods" at 17:00 hrs:
We are so habituated to naturalistic drama, where what you see is what you get, that it takes a little while to get your bearings in a play that is not an objective, but a subjective account of reality. Despite all the clues—no snow, the Woman’s clothes, threatening trees—minutes pass before we realize that this is no ordinary story. Instead, it’s a metaphor-rich reading of a psychological situation, an ambient account of motherhood, love, abandonment, maybe on the brink of mental collapse.

We see a woman who wants to care, with what can only be described as tough love, for a foundling child while standing up, more or less, to an enraged son? - a wolf in wolf’s clothing. We root for her. But who is who? In this symbolic fable, which like a child’s story nods to Little Red Riding Hood and like a Greek tragedy to Medea, a powerful image of unwilling motherhood imprints itself on our minds.
In this world of fractured memory and psychological pain, there are few safe places. And, when you find them, they are only temporary.

A playreading inspired by the text of the strong, dramatic, award-winning British play "The Woods" by Robert Alan Evans which premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London in 2018.First created for THEATRE FESTIVAL “A FOREST UNDER THE WATER” MULTILINGUAL OPEN STAGE 2025 EDITION II at Stenkrossen, Lund
 

*With thanks for their support to Stenkrossen , Lunds kommun and Teatercentrum Södra and Region Skåne