Wild Boy

In 1828, a strange boy appeared in Nuremberg, Germany. He had a limited vocabulary and poor social skills, after apparently being raised in a small, dark cell. But he could spell his name: Kaspar Hauser. The boy soon sparked much debate and controversy, with some calling him "a miracle" and others labelling him "a fraudster". In 1833, he died from a mysterious stab wound.

Psychologists, artists and even acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog have created various research or artworks around Kaspar's persona. Acclaimed Singaporebased director Edith Podesta has now taken the 1967 play Kaspar written by Peter Handke and collaborated with the theatre students of the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts for an M1 Fringe Festival production. This version imagines Kaspar as an innocent youth whose ability to act independently is undermined by societal pressures to speak, think and live as others do.

Kaspar runs from now till Jan 20 at the NAFA Studio Theatre. Tickets from Sistic.