Oracle #01EN
The Oracle or The Bear, the Peacock
and the Secret of the Old Hare
Animal Train #01EN
Animal Train
Leon, the Pirate #01EN
Leon, the Pirate
Rumpelstiltskin #01
Rumpelstiltskin
Knight Tristan and Princess Isolde #01EN
Knight Tristan and Princess Isolde
The Tale of the Troll Child and the Royal Child #01EN
The Tale of the Troll Child and the Royal Child
The Seven Ravens #01EN
The Seven Ravens
Something’s in the Air #01EN
Something’s in the Air
Tom Sawyer #01 EN
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
The Day my Father became a Bush #01EN
The Day my Father became a Bush
My Slightly Strange Friend Walter #01EN
My Slightly Strange Friend Walter
Heart of Stone #01EN
Heart of Stone
The Wooden Horse #01
The Wooden Horse
Amadeus #01EN
Amadeus
Love of Seven Dolls (Die Liebe der kleinen Mouche) #01
Love of Seven Dolls (Die Liebe der kleinen Mouche)
King Lear #01EN
King Lear
Oracle #02EN
by Chantal Schreiber | first release | for 3 year-olds and older
director: Kristine Stahl | stage and puppets: Bärbel Haage | music and sound: Andres Böhmer
performers: Kathrin Blüchert, Heinrich Bennke, Martin Vogel
duration: 45 minutes
Animal Train #02EN
by Christopher Wormell | puppet theatre for 3 year-olds and older
director: Christian Georg Fuchs
set, costumes, puppets: Kathrin Sellin
music and sound: Fritz Bauer
cast: Paul Günther
duration: 30 minutes
Leon, the Pirate #02EN
by Christine Nöstlinger | puppet theatre for the 4 years-old and older
direction und script: Kristine Stahl
set, costumes, puppets: Carsten Bürger
music and sound: Udo Hemmann
cast: Kathrin Blüchert, Paul Günther
duration: 55 minutes
Rumpelstiltskin #02
based on the fairy tale by the brothers Grimm
puppet theatre for 5 year olds and older
script and direction: Susanne Koschig
stage, puppets and costumes: Bärbel Haage
music: Udo Hemmann
cast: Tomas Mielentz, Martin Vogel
duration: 50 minutes
premiere: Saturday, 25 November, 2017
Knight Tristan and Princess Isolde #02EN
puppet theatre with music from Richard Wagner's opera for 5 year-olds and older
direction and script: Christian Georg Fuchs
stage and costumes: Christian Georg Fuchs | puppets: Carsten Bürger
performers: Karoline Vogel, Heinrich Bennke
duration: 40 minutes
The Tale of the Troll Child and the Royal Child #02EN
based on a Swedish fairy tale by Helena Nyblom | puppet theatre for 5 year olds and older
direction and script: Kristine Stahl
set, puppets and costumes: Kathrin Sellin | music and sound: Udo Hemmann
cast: Karoline Vogel, Paul Günther, Martin Vogel
duration: 65 minutes
The Seven Ravens #02EN
based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm | puppet theatre for the 5 years-old and older
director: Frank Alexander Engel | set, costumes, puppets: Kerstin Schmidt
cast: Kathrin Blüchert, Kristine Stahl, Heinrich Bennke, Martin Vogel
Something’s in the Air #02EN
by Eva Schmidtchen | first release | for 6 year-olds and older
director: Eva Schmidtchen | stage and puppets: Eva Schmidtchen and Kathrin Sellin
costumes: Kathrin Sellin | music composition: Axel D. Wolf
performers: Paul Günther, Tomas Mielentz
duration: 55 minutes
Tom Sawyer #02 EN
by Mark Twain
puppet theatre for 8 year olds and older
script, directon and stage: Matthias Thieme
costumes: Mila van Daag | puppets: Kathrin Sellin
cast: Steffi König, Heinrich Bennke, Paul Günther, Tomas Mielentz
premiere: Friday, 9 February, 2018
The Day my Father became a Bush #02EN
by Joke van Leeuwen, translated into German by Hanni Ehlers | puppet theatre for 8 year olds and older
director: Susanne Koschig | set: Kathrin Sellin | cast: Kathrin Blüchert
duration: 60 minutes
My Slightly Strange Friend Walter #02EN
by Sibylle Berg | for 9 year-olds and older
director and stage: Matthias Thieme | costumes: Mila van Daag | puppets: Kathrin Sellin
performers: Kathrin Blüchert, Steffi König, Karoline Vogel, Paul Günther, Tomas Mielentz, Martin Vogel
duration: 80 minutes
Heart of Stone #02EN
by Wilhelm Hauff | puppet theatre for 10 year olds and older
direction: Frank Alexander Engel | set and puppets: Kerstin Schmidt and Frank Alexander Engel
music and sound: Nis Sogaard
cast: Kathrin Blüchert, Kristine Stahl, Heinrich Bennke, Paul Günther, Tomas Mielentz
duration: 80 minutes
The Wooden Horse #02
based on „Die Sage von Trojas Fall“ by Franz Fühmann
puppet theatre for 12 year olds and older
director: Frank Alexander Engel
stage and puppets: Kerstin Schmidt and Frank Alexander Engel
cast: Kathrin Blüchert, Steffi König, Karoline Vogel
premiere: Friday, 20 April, 2018
Amadeus #02EN
by Peter Shaffer | translated into German by Nina Adler | puppet theatre for 13 year olds and older
direction: Frank Alexander Engel
set, puppets and costumes: Kerstin Schmidt and Frank Alexander Engel
cast: Kathrin Blüchert, Heinrich Bennke, Tomas Mielentz
duration: 90 minutes
Love of Seven Dolls #02
Coproduction Theater Waidspeicher (Germany) and Ulrike Quade Company (Netherlands)
based on the short novel by Paul Gallico
adapted for the stage by Susanne Koschig and Ulrike Quade | puppet theatre for 14 year olds and older
director: Ulrike Quade | set and light design: Floriaan Ganzevoort | costumes: Mila van Daag
Mouche puppet: Ulrike Langenbein | glove puppets: Florian Schmigalle
dramaturgy: Susanne Koschig | composition: Strijbos & Van Rijswijk
cast: Steffi König, Karoline Vogel/Kathrin Blüchert, Heinrich Bennke, Paul Günther, Tomas Mielentz
duration: 65 minutes
premiere: Friday, 8 September, 2017
King Lear #02EN
by William Shakespeare, translated into German by Werner Buhss
for 16 year-olds and older
direction: Frank Alexander Engel
stage, puppets and costumes: Kerstin Schmidt and Frank Alexander Engel
cast: Kathrin Blüchert, Kristine Stahl, Karoline Vogel, Heinrich Bennke, Tomas Mielentz, Martin Vogel
duration: 90 minutes
Oracle #04EN
Can somebody, who is so different, be a friend?
“This bear is so clumsy! And he slurps and eats so noisily! Yuk!!!” thinks the peacock.
“This is a really strange bird! Absolutely no fun with this one!” growls the bear.
Nevertheless the bear cannot get rid of the strange bird so easily, after all they are both on the same journey, because they are both looking for the same thing – a best friend! But how do you find one?
An oracle can help them, said the old owl in the tree.
But what on earth is an O-R-A-C-L-E? And what indeed is a real friend?
Animal Train #04EN
A big day for the little train
One morning the train driver feels a tingling in his big toes. As a result he knows “Something big is going to happen to me today”. And so it happens. Mrs Walrus, Mr Bear and Mrs Elephant squash themselves into his little train. They are going on a shopping spree in the city. A play for small children, with model railway.
The children's jury a the 2014 edition of the International Theatre Festival Poletni Lutkovni Pristani in Maribor (Slovenia) awarded Theater Waidspeicher's performance "Animal Train" with 25 Golden Stars, which is the highest score.
Leon, the Pirate #04EN
A father and his son find an unexpected treasure
Happiness is being a pirate! Happiness is having a pirate father! Or maybe not? Leon is a pirate’s son and enjoys being on his father’s ship, but what he likes most is looking over the shoulder of the cook in the galley, and at night he reads cookery books.
When the cook is washed overboard, followed by the rest of the crew, Leon gets a golden opportunity to show what he can.
Rumpelstiltskin #04
From a mill to millions
“My daughter can spin straw into gold!” boasts the miller and thereby causes serious problems for her. Greedy for gold, the king believes the miller, and threatens the daughter with death if she does not perform this feat for him. An imp secretly offers to help her. Thereby he not only saves her life but also provides her with wealth and happiness. However she is at risk of losing everything when the imp demands the payment she promised: the baby of the miller’s daughter, who has now become queen. She may only keep her child if she can guess the name of the imp.
Knight Tristan and Princess Isolde #04EN
Richard Wagner's opera retold for children
The medieval verse narrative “Tristan and Isolde” was made famous by Wagner’s opera. In Theater Waidspeicher’s production it is a story about friendship that we tell for children.
The boy Tristan meets an exceptional girl, together they create their own world of dreams. The music from the opera resounds. And those that hear the music and see this story maybe understand that it is important that you love, it is good that you dream.
The Tale of the Troll Child and the Royal Child #04EN
A story about young changelings
They live in the northern forests – the trolls. These mysterious fairy-tale characters with their scraggy hair, thick noses and big ears enjoy stealing young children out of their beds and replacing them with their own children. This is also what happens in a country ruled by a king. The gentle princess Bianca Maria is kidnapped by trolls and they place a wild troll girl in the royal cradle. The two girls grow up in a world that they don’t seem to fit in and where they create chaos.
The Seven Ravens #04EN
The long journey of a little sister
After seven boys there is a baby girl at last! But the child is sickly and small, and because of her weakness, the father sends the boys to fetch a jug of water for the baptism. In their haste they drop the jug into the well and because of this dare not return home. Worried and impatient, the father cries out in anger: “I wish that those boys would all turn into ravens." He has hardly spoken these words when he sees seven coal-black ravens flying up and away. Once the little sister is old enough she sets out to find her brothers. Eventually she reaches the Glass Mountain at the end of the world where the ravens live, waiting to be redeemed.
The play is invited to the world festival of puppet theatre, taking place in Charleville-Mézières (France) in September, 2017.
Something’s in the Air #04EN
The dream of flying - a true story!
“We’re flying! Take a look at this, we're flying!”
“It’s not really that special Madame. You are able to fly without this apparatus. If I’m not mistaken, cluck-cluck-cluck, you are in possession of a very beautiful pair of wings…”
“You can talk well, Sir - not really that special! You and Madame Canard can save yourselves, when this all goes wrong. But me, what do I do – sheep don’t have wings. They normally stand with their four well-formed feet safely on the ground. Bah.”
When a cockerel, a duck and a trembling sheep travel in a hot air balloon, then it can only be the true story of the Montgolfier brothers that took place in Paris during September 1783.
Tom Sawyer #04 EN
The story of two wayward lads
St. Petersburg, a small town on the banks of the Mississippi. This is where Tom Sawyer lives, and his escapades there make life difficult for his aunt Polly. His best friend is Huckleberry Finn, who lives in a barrel by the riverside. Recently Tom has been taking an interest in Becky. He tries to impress her with his boasting, without realising that he will get the opportunity to prove himself sooner than he likes. One night when Tom and Huck sneak into the graveyard, they witness a murder. Out of fear they agree to keep silent about the crime. But Tom’s conscience begins to nag him: should he risk his life and his friendship to Huck in order to rescue an innocent person?
The Day my Father became a Bush #04EN
The long journey of a courageous young girl fleeing from war
Toda is in fact not called Toda. Her real name is very long and contains the letter ‘K’ four times, but where she now lives nobody can pronounce her actual name. Toda tells the story of her escape. There is a war in the country that she comes from – “one lot are fighting against the other lot”. Toda’s father gets conscripted and learns how to become a bush in order to camouflage himself. For a short time the grand-mother looks after the young girl until where they live becomes too dangerous. Toda should cross the border to the neighbouring country where her mother has been living for several years. During her journey to safety Toda has many different adventures and along the way meets various people: money-grubbing people-smugglers, children who should give their toys away, a friendly commander who is unable to command.
This solo performance looks at war and refugees from the perspective of a child. The audience sit on the stage so that they become an active part of the story.
The show was invited to the 14th German Theatre for Young Audience Festival AUGENBLICK MAL! 2017 in Berlin.
My Slightly Strange Friend Walter #04EN
The story of an extra-terrestrial friendship
Nine year-old Lisa understands physics well. She can solve difficult mathematical problems and build computers from scrap metal. However her life is anything but easy. Since her parents lost their jobs, outings and conversations have become things of the past. She is mobbed at school and teased in the playground. One evening Walter, a visitor from another planet, lands on the meadow behind the house. He considers the earthly problems of humans to be extremely weird and begins to thoroughly reorganise Lisa’s life. A humorous story about an unusual friendship and the small steps that are needed in order to change the world a little.
Heart of Stone #04EN
What is better: wealth or reason?
The young charcoal maker Peter Munk is dissatisfied with his badly paid, low esteemed work. He dreams of being rich and respected. Two spirits in the Black Forest could fulfil his wishes. But at what cost? The friendly glass man helps him to gain riches and respect, but without the necessary common sense Peter eventually loses everything. So all he can do is go to the demonic Dutch-Michael. But in return he demands Peter’s heart of flesh and blood. Dutch-Michael exchanges this for a heart of stone and promises Peter: “Neither fear nor fright, neither stupid sympathy nor sorrow can move such a heart”. Peter now has to decide what is essential for him in his life …
The Wooden Horse #04
From the Golden Apple of Discord to war
Three women talk about the war, the most famous war of classical times, which began with an argument between women. A golden apple with the inscription "For the fairest one" is thrown amongst the gods who are guests at a wedding. Paris, a young mortal from Troy, should judge which of three goddesses gets the apple. Paris choses Aphrodite who in exchange makes Helen, the most beautiful of all women, fall in love with Paris, who then takes her to Troy. Thus the ten-year war between mortals begins and results in countless victims. It is only through a trick that the Greeks manage to capture the undefeatable city of Troy, using a giant wooden horse as a gift.
Amadeus #04EN
Mediocrity clashes with genius
Vienna, in November 1823. Twenty-three years after Mozart’s death rumours circulate through the city: the famous composer had been murdered and the court composer Antonio Salieri was his murderer. He had killed Mozart out of jealousy. The ageing Salieri tells of his meetings with Mozart in a series of flashbacks. He describes how he got to know Mozart and how he suffered under his brilliancy and especially from the awareness of his own mediocrity.
Peter Shaffer’s play from 1979 knocks the famous icon off his pedestal. It embeds historical background in an enthralling whodunit and thereby reveals the individual behind the genius with all of his strengths and weaknesses.
Love of Seven Dolls #04
Innocence and the Beast
Paul Gallico‘s masterful story about a young woman who encounters the magic of a puppet theatre is one of the most ingenious romances in world literature.
Little Mouche unsuccessfully seeks a living in the glitzy world of Paris. Alone and disappointed she decides to throw herself into the cold currents of the Seine. However seven puppets from a nearby puppet theatre catch her attention and invite her to join them. Mouche’s innocence and gaiety enthrals the seven puppets and all who see them. Nevertheless the embittered puppeteer treats her roughly and unpleasantly. Then one day a young acrobat turns up and courts Mouche.
King Lear #04EN
Old and young between blindness to reality and recognition of the truth
König Lear is considered to be Shakespeare’s darkest and least compromising play. The subject matter is based on themes and characters taken from older stories. An old king wants to abdicate and divide his kingdom between his three daughters. The one who loves him the most should get the largest share. The king, old, stubborn, and not without vanity completely falls for the flattery of the two older daughters, but disinherits and throws out the youngest, his favourite daughter who refuses to pander to him. The ageing king only realises his mistake when it’s too late.