We humans have long made sense of the non-human world around, and beyond us, through storytelling and myth. Folklore has much to say about hairy wild men, and women, and their relationship to us, past and present. Exploring these motifs, stories and the creative process, we focus on these ‘woodwose’, their presence on church fonts, and their probable origins as creatures and symbols.
We speak with playwright Thea Smiley who, with theatre company Wonderful Beast, has written about The Last Wildman and The Woodwose. With her we ponder what we should learn from wild places and wild people, and the 'mythical' beings who perhaps know more than we do about how to live.
THEME MUSIC BY DAVID ROTHENBERG. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. USED BY KIND PERMISSION OF THE ARTIST http://www.davidrothenberg.net
Some of the ideas and references we make in this podcast can be found here:
Aesops Fables
Pliny
Michael Witzel
Selkie
Flood mythology
Werewolf
Wendigo
Griffin
Thea Smiley
Wonderful Beast theatre company
Return of the Wildman
Woodwose
Woodwose photos
Matt Salusbury
The Wildman
Wildman of Orford
Ludham font
Ralph of Coggeshall
Green children of Woolpit
Orford Ness
Ted Hughes ‘Wodwo’
Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Almasty
35. Tide ~ time & tidings
34. Extinction ~ loss, hope and redemption
33. Sense of scent ~ second nature, beyond words
32. Sam Lee. The Nightingale ~ totem, identity and hope
31. Black Shuck ~ and the hounds of the liminal lands
30. Ed Parnell. Ghostland ~ In Search of a Haunted Country
29. Ed O’Brien. Earth ~ the album and in nature
28. Gillian Burke ~ storytelling & the light and shade of being alive
26. Karen Parry. Wild Swimming ~ held by water
25. Eva Gunnare. Wild Food ~ tradition & knowledge
24. The Wolf ~ and humanity
23. Interspecies ~ a language between us?
22. The River ~ all things merge into one
21. Roger Hardy, Rhett Griffiths. Sea Voices ~ Siren voices
20. Owl ~ mythology, motif and mastery
19. Wilderness ~ is it beyond our reach?
18. The Sea ~ a prelude
17. Dan Richards. Outpost ~ wilderness and the other
16. Pilgrimage ~ endurance, faith and the 'other'
15. Julian Hoffman. Irreplaceable ~ the fight to save wild places
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