The Wonderwall
for everybody 7+
Once upon a time, a society lived according to the principle: "Wellbeing and happiness of the community lead to wellbeing and happiness of the individual." But when the chief custodian died at a very old age, a successor had to be elected. The people came together to confer. "If the smartest and the best of us rules according to their will, is this always for the best? And how are we to recognise the smartest and the best one?"
"The Wonderwall" takes a humorous look into fundamental questions. Should everyone make all decisions together, or should one person be in charge? This is the question that author Hermynia zur Mühlen is exploring in her tale.
It's a good thing if that one person in charge is just and wise, she tells us. But she also talks about what can happen if they are neither.
Enjoying his role as narrator to the fullest, performer Marko Werner gives an account of a society which has to learn what truly matters and of the clear-sighted child who figures out the secret of the Wonderwall.
PREMIERE: 17. April 2015, HELIOS Theate
Team
Performance: Marko Werner
Production: Michael Lurse, Marko Werner
Press comments
"A happy time had once existed, when all goods were common goods, food and drink, clothes and living." Helios-Theater in Hamm has picked up this fundamental longing underlying human existence in its adaptation of the fairytale "Wonderwall" by Hermynia zur Mühlen (1883–1952). […]
Michael Lurse makes a point to base his production on a strong narrative foundation, which emphasises the discourse in Hermynia zur Mühlen's story. What happens after the custodian's death? Is his council vital or could outsiders provide better concepts? Marko Werner pulls two red gloves towards himself and puts them on. He props up his chin in one hand and, as the Fox-Faced One, creates the illusion of being the smartest and the best. But how can you recognise the smartest one, a boy asks, and Marko Werner indicates that he understands his scepticism by opening his arms. A "King" being elected is soon stigmatised as a mistake, because the dim-witted monarch's crown hangs on his nose. Due to his egoism and his greed, he puts all products behind glass, depriving people of them. This trick causes people to covet more things than they actually have a demand of.
Michael Lurse, who had adapted the story, uses dramaturgical means sparingly. The shadow play of two hands is as eloquent as the speech held by the Fox-Faced One as a cunning character with a dark cast shadow. The narrator/performer touches some of the children with the glass that has a miraculous effect, thus drawing their attention to the everyday material. Marko Werner gets up ("Children are important for us") and rattles on and on about the opening of a glass factory. An effect and a monitor image which touch upon media reality.
The performance feels more authentic when a stone is handled which soon floats above the glass pane and smashes the "Wonderwall". This is more than just a victory for the stage children; the theatre arranges its means to create storytelling that is genuinely true to life."
Westfälischer Anzeiger, April 17th, 2015, by Achim Lettmann
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