Frederick die Maus
Tue 25.04. 11:30
Wed 26.04. 10:00
Wed 26.04. 12:30
About
Instead of working hard in the summer like the rest of the mouse family and hoarding food for the winter, Frederick collects sunbeams, colors and words. Then, as the long winter weighs on everyone's mind, Frederick brings out his treasures and stages a grand performance, bringing summer into the cold cave.
Frederick proves that artistic work is important for a community. His treasures are the basic elements of theater: colors, lights, words, and sounds. With the help of the children, he operates the theater machine and lets them become active and creative spectators, who playfully explore the tools and resources of the stage and thus the theater evolves in a communal effort.
vorschlag:hammer have been developing theater productions as a collective since 2009. They studied cultural studies and aesthetic practice in Hildesheim, acting in Bern and Zurich, and applied theater studies at the JLU Gießen. The constantly complementary vorschlag:hammer core consists of Kristofer Gudmundsson, Gesine Hohmann, Stephan Stock and Bernhard la Dous and is part of the network cobratheater.cobra.
Follow-up conversations
After all performances, several follow-up conversations take place immediately afterwards, lasting a maximum of 90 minutes. The allocation to the talks takes place on site. There are always also spatially accessible offers. Information about the presenters can be found here.
Credits
From and with: Kristofer Gudmundsson, Gesine Hohmann, Stephan Stock
After the children’s book by Leo Lionni “Frederick”
Stage, devices and Light: Eva G. Alonso
Sound and Music: Frieder Hepting
Interaction Design: Sebastian Arnd
Technical assistance: Tim Kesseler
Dramaturgy: Sascha Bauer
Production Manager: Bernhard la Dous (produktionsDock)
A production by vorschlag:hammer in co-production with Ballhaus Ost and Kom'matheater Duisburg. Supported by the Senate Department for Culture and Europe Berlin, the Ministry for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and by the NRW Landesbüro Freie Darstellende Künste and the City of Duisburg.
Vote
Watched by children sitting on cushions in front of the theater, Stephan Stock transforms himself into a field mouse with the help of an old vacuum cleaner, a microphone with a windscreen and a helmet with two color filters and invites his audience to become his mouse family. His girlfriend Roberta (Gesine Hohmann) and her robot Robin are added via video tutorials, and help the children turn into little mice as well. In the garden in front of the theater, the children collect supplies and throw them into designated pipes, which play little jingles by Roberta each time. Meanwhile, Frederick the Mouse collects sounds and the children's voices with his recording device. Later, the children are transported via a moving walkway to the stage area, where a collage of the sound recordings is waiting for them. The whole mouse family is supposed to hibernate. First Frederick distributes the stock among the children. In the process, they negotiate who will get the last chocolate and who will have to settle for a tangerine. And then? What do you do in that time?
In their performative picture book adaptation of "Frederick the Mouse," the vorschlag:hammer collective empowers its young audience through playful elements to help shape the theatrical experience. Whether it's buzzers or loud shouts that change the stage lights, instructions on what to do to pass the time, voice recordings on the topics of summer and winter; the children become accomplices who can keep the theatrical machinery running or leave Frederick stranded. This is serious empowerment, including the risk of potential failure, was an outstanding element in the selection process.
Malte Andritter
Content Note
In Frederick die Maus, fog and darkness are used in places so that sensory stimuli can be stimulated by the smell. In addition, Frederick the Mouse offers the possibility of interaction. There is a lot of movement.
Watch at your own risk, so decide for yourself whether you might feel triggered by the play or not.
