The Call of the Wild

“Unga Teatern’s classroom monologue based on The Call of the Wild is unusually powerful and effective in its tone. The performance is sure to serve as a strong conversation starter for children on the threshold of adolescence, tackling violence and its real-life consequences.”
(Svenska Yle, April 25, 2025)

Jack London’s tale of Buck—the unwilling sled dog who learns to survive the harsh conditions of the Klondike gold rush—continues to fascinate. For 11-year-old Matti Raita, the story became a turning point. In Buck, he found a mirror of his own struggle with unjust violence.

Buck fights back when he can. For Matti, the violence ended when he struck back. But now, just as he did then, he asks himself: Why isn’t Buck allowed to be kind? Can’t we just break the law of the club and fang?

With the help of a synthesizer and a stuffed dog, Matti tells both his own story and Buck’s. Is the call of the wild, in fact, a cry for help? How are we supposed to relate to the violence around us? The violence within us?

World premiere: April 25, 2025, premier in finnish 2026
Performance period: December 2–22, 2025 in swedish