Repertoire
The Hare and the Hedgehog
based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm
puppet theatre for 3 year olds and older | duration: 35 minutes
Director: Matthias Thieme | Stage design, costumes and puppets: Nadine Wottke | Composition of the stage music: Jonas Wolter and Sebastian Bode
Cast: Karoline Vogel, Heinrich Bennke
I'm here already!
The hedgehog challenges the hare to a race. The hedgehog? With his short legs? Yes, the hedgehog! Because the hare, such a show-off, was laughing at him. Just because of his short legs. And now the hare has even more to laugh at. A race. Against him, the swift hare, who with his long legs only needs a few quick steps to reach his goal. Quickly and in no time at all he is there. The hedgehog doesn't stand a chance. But the hedgehog is smarter than the hare thinks. He can only succeed in winning the race by using a trick.
A play for all children and grown-ups that shows how wit and cleverness can help you overcome the show-offs and those who think they are better.
Mole’s Star
based on the children’s book by Britta Teckentrup
puppet theatre for 3 year olds and older | first release | duration: 40 minutes
Director: Julia Sontag | Stage design, puppets and costumes: Betty Wirtz | Music composition and sound: Katharina Lattke
Cast: Karoline Vogel, Maurice Voß
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?
Performance rights: Britta Teckentrup c/o United Agents LLP, London
Puss in Boots
based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm | stage adaption by the Ensemble
puppet theatre for 4 year olds and older | duration: 55 minutes
Director: Sonja Keßner | Designs: Nadine Wottke | Composition and sound: Kinbom & Kessner
Cast: Melissa Stock, Paul S. Kemner
A poor miller has three sons. When he dies, the eldest gets the mill and the middle son the donkey. The youngest gets the tomcat, which he immediately wants to turn into a pair of fur gloves. But the tomcat can talk and promises the miller‘s son a way out of poverty. He asks for a pair of boots and sets off to catch a sack of partridges for the king. The curious tomcat becomes the favourite of the court, is allowed to go in and out, and finally succeeds in defeating the great sorcerer of the land with a trick, making the miller‘s son an earl and finally king.
This Grimms’ tale is an entertaining classic and at the same time a story about rebellion and cleverness.
The realisation of this production was supported by Ingenieurbüro Susann Schwarzenau.
Rumpelstiltskin
based on the Grimm fairy tale | adapted for the stage by Susanne Koschig
puppet theatre for 4 year olds and older | duration: 50 minutes
Director: Susanne Koschig | Stage design, puppets and costumes: Bärbel Haage | Music: Udo Hemmann
Cast: Karoline Vogel, Tomas Mielentz
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.
The realisation of this production was supported by the Förderverein Theater Waidspeicher Erfurt e.V.
Fiete and the Sea
based on an idea by Melissa Stock
puppet theatre for 5 year olds and older | duration: 50 minutes
Devising: Melissa Stock and Tomas Mielentz | Director: Tomas Mielentz | Stage design, costume and puppets: Kathrin Sellin | Music and sound: Andres Böhmer | Make-up: Nadine Wottke
Cast: Melissa Stock
An adventurous journey over the ocean
Fiete lives happily and contentedly alone on his little island in the sea. Everything has its own place here: the waves come and go, the flashing lighthouse shows the ships the way, and from its top Fiete can look far and wide into the world and watch the fish. Then one day, nothing is the same anymore. The sea changes, the water rises higher and higher and swallows up everything around it. Even Fiete's island. When the top of the lighthouse starts to disappear beneath the waves, Fiete has to leave his home. And thus, he starts on a journey over the vast ocean, which is no longer as calm as it used to be. He searches among lost whales, ghost nets and useless carpets for a place where he can stay and find a new home.
The Steadfast Tin Soldier
based on the fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen | adapted for the stage by Tomas Mielentz
puppet theatre for 6 year olds and older | duration: 40 minutes
Director: Tomas Mielentz | Stage design, costumes and puppets: Nadine Wottke | Music and sound: Philipp Hiemann | Choreographic advice: Stefan Kirmse | Make-up: Nadine Wottke | Internship: Antonia Fohmann
Cast: Melissa Stock, Karoline Vogel
The wonderful world of living toys
An old kiosk full of wondrous things is home to twenty-five toy soldiers looking exactly like each other. 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 toy-dancer who, just like him, stands on just one leg. But there is someone interfering. 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?
Panicman
by Hartmut El Kurdi
puppet theatre for 8 year olds and older | duration: 70 minutes
Director: Naemi Friedmann | Stage design and costumes: Sarah Wolters | Puppets: Melanie Sowa and Mario Hohmann | Creative intern: Anton Ole Zang
Cast: Karoline Vogel, Heinrich Bennke, Paul S. Kemner
Nine-year-old Jennifer is at home alone. No need to be scared, Jennifer thinks, and works through her secret list which is full of things she wants to do. At some point, however, it does get a bit creepy being all alone at home and she starts to get scared. Then she suddenly discovers someone who is even more frightened than she is. In the wardrobe sits Panicman, who has transported himself from a galaxy far, far away directly into Jennifer‘s wardrobe and is seeking refuge from his pursuer Bullyman. Of course, he will catch up with him very soon…
Performance rights: henschel SCHAUSPIEL Theaterverlag Berlin
The Nutcracker and the Mouse King
based on E.T.A. Hoffmann, with music by Peter Tchaikovsky
puppet theatre for 8 year olds and older | Duration: 55 minutes
Director: Christian Georg Fuchs | Stage design and costumes: Mila van Daag | Marionettes: Peter Lutz | Stage decoration and objects: Studio Theater Waidspeicher
Cast: Karoline Vogel, Tomas Mielentz
Music: Peter Ilyich Tchaikowsky: The Nutcracker. Ballet in two acts, Op. 71. Russian National Orchestra. Mikhail Pletnev. 2011 Ondine Oy, Helsinki.
The fantastic story of the Nutcracker who defeats the Mouse King
On Christmas Eve, Marie finds a special present under the Christmas tree. A nutcracker that comes to life in the night and protects Marie from the evil seven-headed Mouse King. But no one believes the girl's nocturnal experiences, except for the godfather Drosselmeier, who knows the secret of the Nutcracker and how to redeem him.
Hoffmann's famous, more than 200-year-old fantastic tale about nocturnal adventures, living toys, dramatic fights and a journey into the wondrous realm of dolls is told with ballet music by Peter Tchaikovsky.
Pinocchio
based on Carlo Collodi | adapted for the stage by Frank Alexander Engel
puppet theatre for 8 year olds and older | duration: 65 minutes
Director: Frank Alexander Engel | Stage design, costumes and puppets: Kerstin Schmidt and Frank Alexander Engel | Music and sound: Sebastian Herzfeld
Cast: Heinrich Bennke, Tomas Mielentz
The adventures of the famous wooden puppet in the conflict between duty and disposition
The woodcarver Geppetto creates a puppet from a piece of wood – it is to be his son Pinocchio. However Pinocchio does not stay at home with his father, but runs away. Disregarding all warnings and full of curiosity and hunger for life, he hurls himself at the temptations of the wide world. For isn’t it much more exciting to go to the puppet theatre, than to sit around at school? Without knowing the world, Pinocchio becomes a plaything between good and evil. He falls for false promises and becomes entangled in tall tales. After his many adventures, will he finally succeed in becoming a real boy?
The realisation of this production is supported by the Sparkassenstiftung Erfurt.
The Shoes that were Danced to Pieces
based on the fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm
puppet theatre for 10 year olds and older | duration: 50 minutes
Director: Christian Georg Fuchs | Stage design and costumes of the actresses: Gisa Kuhn | Puppets: Carsten Bürger | Choreographic collaboration: Daniela Backhaus | Make-up: Nadine Wottke
Cast: Kathrin Blüchert, Melissa Stock, Karoline Vogel
Twelve fairy tale secrets behind a closed door
What is the secret of the dancing that happens every night? Loud music and merry laughter come from the daughters' bedroom, but they won't let anyone in. The king commissions three noble men to find an answer. And indeed, the door opens twelve times for them, and the twelve daughters present themselves. Each one different, each one mysterious. Each with her own music and her own dance. Together, the twelve entwine their audience in ever more diverse dances…
The Brothers Grimm fairy tale about looking for and finding one's own way of moving, unfolds a panorama of distinct types of puppets and different dances from all over the world.
Iphigenia, King's Child
by Pauline Mol | translated from the Dutch by Monika The
puppet theatre for 10 year olds and older | duration: 55 minutes
Director: Matthias Thieme | Stage design and costumes: Mila van Daag | Puppets and Masks: Kathrin Sellin | Composition stage music and sound production: Kinbom & Kessner | Video projections: Felix Bauer | Make-up: Nadine Wottke
Cast: Anna Fülle, Melissa Stock, Heinrich Bennke, Paul Günther
A Greek classic, told for children
The Greeks are moored with their ships in Aulis in order to go to war against the Trojans. But without wind the men cannot sail. The oracle prophesies something terrible: King Agamemnon must sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia, then the goddess Artemis will send the desired wind. Finding an excuse, the father and supreme commander of the army summon Iphigenia to the Greek camp.
Pauline Mol's play is based on the story of Iphigenia, which the Greek poet Euripides (480-406 BC) describes in his tragedy. This Dutch author reworks the ancient myth for children in a modern, clear theatre version told from the perspective of a child who gets caught between the warring fronts.
Performance Rights: Verlag der Autoren, Frankfurt am Main
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 | duration: 80 minutes
Musical direction: Alexej Barchevitch | Director: Christian Georg Fuchs | Stage design and costumes: Klemens Kühn | Puppets: Peter Lutz | Puppet costumes: Kathrin Sellin
Cast: Melissa Stock, Karoline Vogel, Paul Günther, Nicolas Jantosch, 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
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.
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 | duration: 80 minutes
Director: Frank Alexander Engel | Stage design, costumes and puppets: Kerstin Schmidt and Frank Alexander Engel | Music and sound: Sebastian Herzfeld | Make-up: Nadine Wottke
Cast: Melissa Stock, Karoline Vogel, Heinrich Bennke, Tomas Mielentz
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 realisation of this production was supported by the Sparkassenstiftung Erfurt.
Krabat
by Otfried Preußler | adapted for the stage by Susanne Koschig and Matthias Thieme
puppet theatre for 12 year olds and older | Duration: 65 minutes
Director: Matthias Thieme | Stage and puppets: Martin Gobsch | Ravens: Nadine Wottke | Costumes: Coco Ruch | Music and sound: Andres Böhmer
Cast: Melissa Stock, Heinrich Bennke, Paul Günther, Tomas Mielentz
Black magic clashes with the power of love
The orphan Krabat gets a job as a miller’s assistant at the mill in Schwarzkollm. Here the master teaches the miller’s trade to him as well as the other apprentices – and additionally they learn the art of black magic. The price of the magic power and living in the mill is high. The mill is under a curse. Sacrifices must be made. At the end of each year one of the boys must die. Krabat decides to stand in the master’s way. But for that he needs the help of a courageous young girl. To save Krabat and to break the curse of the mill, the girl must be prepared to face a life-and-death ordeal.
The realisation of this production was supported by the Sparkassenstiftung Erfurt and Ingenieurbüro Susann Schwarzenau.
Performance rights: Verlag für Kindertheater Weitendorf, Hamburg
Atlas of Remote Islands
by Judith Schalansky
puppet theatre for 14 year olds and older | duration: 75 minutes
Director: Christian Georg Fuchs | Media stage design: Raphael Köhler and Christian Scheibe / NIVRE Film & Studio GmbH | Puppets: Peter Lutz | Puppet costumes: Gisa Kuhn
Cast: Heinrich Bennke, Paul Günther, Maurice Voß
A journey of exploration to far off places
Thanks to Google maps and photos of the world from outer space, there is nowhere on earth that we cannot picture. Using electronic eyes, we can see almost every island. However, are we really there? Judith Schalansky dedicated her multi-award-winning book to the discovery of the world through maps. She put together reports and stories about faraway islands all over the world, “Islands I have never been to and will never visit”.
In a theatrical journey we travel to twelve of these islands, to far off sites and settings of history and stories. Twelve mini dramas present twelve strange, comical and unusual stories about far-off people and rare animals: a treasure hunter, a bird watcher, a Morna singer, the French emperor Napoleon, a polar explorer, a feminist aviation pioneer, an extinct sea cow.
The realisation of this production was supported by Ingenieurbüro Susann Schwarzenau.
Performance rights: Copyright © 2009 by mareverlag, Hamburg
Animal Letters
by Toon Tellegen, translated from the Dutch by Mirjam Pressler | stage adaption by Frank Soehnle
puppet theatre for 14 year olds and older | Original title: „Briefe vom Eichhorn an die Ameise“ | duration: 60 minutes
Director and stage design: Frank Soehnle
| Costumes: Mila van Daag
| Puppets: Kathrin Sellin and Frank Soehnle
| Composition and sound: Johannes Frisch
Make-up: Nadine Wottke | Directing internship: Annalena-Madita Scheika and Franziska Heimbrodt
Cast: Svea Schiedung, Melissa Stock, Paul S. Kemner, Tomas Mielentz
Premiere: 13 September, 2024, at 7:30 p.m.
“Animal Letters” is about writing letters; the squirrel writes letters to the ant and gives them to the wind to send. The sparrow teaches the animals how to write, the mole writes letters to himself. The elephant writes to the snail asking for permission to dance on her house – very carefully, of course. The firefly can only make itself understood to the moth. And the aphid only just escapes its loneliness. Toon Tellegen‘s short stories are utopian miniatures about empathy and community. Director, puppet designer and puppeteer Frank Soehnle – known for his unmistakable style and imaginative characters – and his team tell us about the winding paths of communication, the desire for connection and the lightness and heaviness of encounters in an absurd and comical way in this play for ages 14 and up.
The realisation of this production is supported by the Sparkassenstiftung Erfurt.
Performance rights: Rowohlt Theater Verlag, Hamburg
Book rights: Toon Tellegen, Briefe vom Eichhorn an die Ameise. Translated by Mirjam Pressler
© 2001 Carl Hanser Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, München
Pretty Lola, Pleasant Liesel
by Heinrich Thies | stage adaptation by Kristine Stahl and Susanne Koschig
puppet theatre for 16 year olds and older | duration: 90 minutes
Director, stage and costume design: Kristine Stahl | Puppets: Kathrin Sellin | Objects and props: Nadine Wottke | Musical rehearsal and recording: Yulia Martynova | Make-up: Nadine Wottke
Cast: Karoline Vogel, Heinrich Bennke, Tomas Mielentz, Martin Vogel
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", lawyer Frieder Roth from "Die Marlene Dietrich Collection GmbH" in Munich and the "Gedenkstätte Buchenwald" for their support.
Performance rights: Hartmann & Stauffacher Verlag, Köln
Macbeth!
Co-production between Theater Waidspeicher and Theater Erfurt
with music from Giuseppe Verdi's "Macbeth" and texts from William Shakespeare's tragedy of the same name | in German
music- and puppet theatre for 16 year olds and older | duration: 70 minutes
Director: Christian Georg Fuchs | Stage design and costumes: Mila van Daag | Puppets: Kathrin Sellin | Assistant director: Philipp Etzel | Stage manager: Philipp Etzel | Set assistant: Tamara Stotz | Swordplay coach: Tobias Prüwer
Macbeth: Ks. Máté Sólyom-Nagy | Puppetry: Melissa Stock, Heinrich Bennke | The Messenger: Tjaade Muriel Kriegelstein
Multi-instrumentalist: Gundolf Nandico | Piano: Ralph Neubert
The co-production by Theater Waidspeicher and Theater Erfurt is dedicated to Giuseppe Verdi‘s musical portrait of the social climber and power-hungry Macbeth and combines the material with texts from Shakespeare‘s dramatic original. Macbeth becomes intoxicated with power and brutality and rises from soldier to King of Scotland. But from the very beginning he is surrounded by visions and fictions, witches and the dead speak to him and his end is as ghostly as his rise.