Mole’s Star
based on the children’s book by Britta Teckentrup
puppet theatre for 3 year olds and older | first release
Director: Julia Sontag
Stage design, puppets and costumes: Betty Wirtz
Music composition and sound: Katharina Lattke
Cast: Karoline Vogel, Maurice Voß
Premiere: 10 September, 2022, at 3 p.m.
A story of light and darkness, of stars and sparkling
The little mole has his home deep underground. But sometimes he is quite lonely on his own in the dark. Then, when he stretches his head once again up to the night sky and wistfully admires the twinkling stars, he wishes that they were all his. Indeed, his wish comes true, and all the stars of the night now shine in his home. How beautiful! But outside the sky is suddenly as dark as a raven’s wing, the night is pitch-black, and all the other animals of the forest cannot see anything anymore. There are no more stars to show them where to go. What to do about it? Whose stars are they anyway? For whom do they shine? For one on his own or for all?
Pretty Lola, Pleasant Liesel
based on the book by Heinrich Thies | stage adaptation by Kristine Stahl and Susanne Koschig
puppet theatre for 16 year olds and older
Director, stage and costume design: Kristine Stahl
Puppets: Kathrin Sellin
Objects and props: Nadine Wottke
Musical rehearsal and recording: Yulia Martynova
Premiere postponed to the 2023/24 season.
The story of two very different sisters
At the beginning of May 1945 an American soldier arrives in Germany with the allied troops. She is returning to her homeland, which she had left fifteen years earlier and since then has never set foot in again. The famous Hollywood actress Marlene Dietrich is looking for her sister Liesel. The trail leads to the cinema of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. Two very different sisters, two paths in life that separate and cross again and are linked by film in a very special way.
We would like to thank Silke Ronneburg from "Deutsche Kinemathek - Marlene Dietrich Collection Berlin" and lawyer Frieder Roth from "Die Marlene Dietrich Collection GmbH" in Munich for their support.
Gold Power Love Death – The Song of the Nibelungs
narrated by Frank Alexander Engel based on various sources of the medieval saga | puppet theatre for 12 year olds and older
Director: Frank Alexander Engel
Stage design, costumes and puppets: Kerstin Schmidt and Frank Alexander Engel
Music and sound: Sebastian Herzfeld
Cast: Juliane Solvång, Melissa Stock*, Heinrich Bennke, Tomas Mielentz
Premiere: 24 February, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
*Student of Contemporary Puppetry at the "Ernst Busch" Academy of Dramatic Arts
The old song of love and betrayal, of loyalty and revenge
In the beginning there were gods, giants, dwarfs. And gold. An immense treasure promising wealth and power. But the gold is cursed. It brings no happiness to its human owners. In the end, everyone is dead. All of them? What about Brunhild – the legendary, once invincible, mighty queen from the far north? She is no longer mentioned in the Nibelungenlied after the quarrel with Kriemhild and the murder of Siegfried the dragon-slayer. In our version of the old saga, we tell her story. The story of unrequited love, of betrayal and hatred, of greed for enormous wealth and power, of loyalty and delusion and of a terrible revenge that leads to the downfall of once mighty kingdoms.
The Servant of Two Masters
Co-production Theater Waidspeicher and the Thuringian Philharmonic Orchestra Gotha-Eisenach
by Carlo Goldoni | adapted for the stage by Christian Georg Fuchs
with music by Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach und Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber
puppet theatre with baroque orchestra for 10 year olds and older
Musical direction: Alexej Barchevitch
Director: Christian Georg Fuchs
Stage design and costumes: Klemens Kühn
Puppets: Peter Lutz
Puppet costumes: Kathrin Sellin
Cast: Melissa Stock*, Heinrich Bennke, Paul Günther, Tomas Mielentz
Solo violin: Alexej Barchevitch | lute und mandolin: Susanne Herre | cembalo: Jens Goldhardt/Bastian Uhlig
With the baroque orchestra of the Thuringian Philharmonic Orchestra Gotha-Eisenach
Premiere in Erfurt, Theater Waidspeicher: 28 April, 2023, at 7:30 p.m.
Premiere in Gotha, Ekhof-Theater (Castle Friedenstein): 7 July, 2023, at 6 p.m.
*Student of Contemporary Puppetry at the "Ernst Busch" Academy of Dramatic Arts
Goldoni meets Vivaldi in the turbulence of mistaken identity
Carlo Goldoni and Antonio Vivaldi both came from Venice, which was one of the greatest cultural metropolises in Europe in their time. It is quite possible that the young playwright met the old composer in the hustle and bustle of the Venetian alleyways. In our production of "The Servant of Two Masters", we invite the two Venetians to collaborate. Vivaldi's music is interwoven with Goldoni's comedy. For this production, Theater Waidspeicher is co-operating for the first time with the Thuringian Philharmonic Orchestra Gotha-Eisenach. Puppeteers and baroque specialists meet for a turbulent, love-filled, acrobatic and dazzling journey into the Venice of Truffaldino, Smeraldina and the other characters of Commedia dell'arte.
The Steadfast Tin Soldier
based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen | puppet theatre for 6 year olds and older
Director: Tomas Mielentz
Stage design, costumes and puppets: Nadine Wottke
Music and sound: Philipp Hiemann
Premiere: 10 June, 2023, at 3 p.m.
Of tin, paper and toys that come to life
A child's room full of wonderful toys. Twenty-five tin soldiers looking exactly like each other live in a box. Only the last one is different. He is missing a leg. But he is just as steadfast and brave as his brothers. He falls in love with the enchanting little dancer at the paper castle who, just like him, stands on just one leg. The black goblin interferes. Or was it a gust of wind that blew the brave tin soldier off the window sill and down into the street? An exciting odyssey begins: the tin soldier rides through the gutter in a paper boat, meets a water rat and is swallowed by a fish. Will he ever see his beloved dancer again?