Rudyard Kipling – The Jungle Book
Translated, Adapted and Directed by: JAKUB ROSZKOWSKI
Stage Design: MACIEJ CHOJNACKI
Cast: the entire company of the Hans Christian Andersen Theatre
/for children aged 10 and above/
PREMIERE: 10 February 2017
The Jungle Book by Nobel Prize winner Rudyard Kipling is one of the most beautiful and best-known literary works for children and teens. It has been moving and amusing generations of readers for over 120 years. The book’s three main stories (retold on stage), i.e., Mowgli’s Brothers, Kaa’s Hunting and Tiger! Tiger!, are about a boy who was raised by animals in the jungle and after many years tried to return to the human world.
We all know and remember the tales. The question is whether we know the original tales or their adaptations which added colour to the story and oversimplified it. The Jungle Book is not (or not only) a vivid joyful Disney tale about animals. It is an archetypal tale which – besides a captivating and spectacular plot – contains the power of ritual and the wisdom of its message. It is a story about identity search and attempt to understand and familiarize oneself with the other. In today's world full of xenophobia, racism and progressive nationalism, this seems to be a difficult and very relevant subject.