Fangauf - Jugendtheater.net

Kinder- und Jugendtheaterzentrum in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Development of a Repertory for Children’s and Youth Theatre in Germany
by Henning Fangauf
Children’s and youth theatre in Germany rests on two basic convictions: It is a cast
theatre and it has a repertory of plays at its disposal. Because of these structures,
which developed only after 1945, it is different from almost all other European children and youth theatre environments.
The First Half of the 20th Century
According to Manfred Brauneck’s “Theaterlexikon” a repertory is the entirety of plays
a theatre has on its programme and that can be called upon at any time. Prerequisite
for the repertory principle is the theatre having a contracted cast at its disposal. In
this sense during the first half of the 20th century one cannot speak of a repertory in
children’s and youth theatre. Apart from the annually shown Christmas tales theatres
neither held the conviction that there should be special performances for young audiences all year round nor were there authors who could have created such a repertory. Children’s theatre was dominated by plays performed during the Christmas season in the tradition of 19th century children’s comedy, among them the German
Christmas classic “Peterchens Mondfahrt” by Gerd von Bassewitz (1912). At some
theatres of the Weimar Republic there was an interest in the topic of adolescence.
The plays were written by expressionists like Arnold Bronnen (“Vatermord”, 1922),
Ferdinand Bruckner („Krankheit der Jugend”, 1924), Martin Lampel (“Revolte im Erziehungshaus”, 1929) or Ernst Toller (“Hoppla, wir leben“, 1927). In 1930 Erich Kästner’s famous children’s books “Emil und die Detektive” (Emil and the detectives) and
“Pünktchen und Anton” were dramatized and performed for the first time. The national-socialist dictatorship publicly burnt all these works. The uniform Nazi “Culture
State” ordered performances of the classics and solemn Thing ceremonies for young
people. After World War II children and youth theatre took a completely different
course of development in the two German states.
1949 to 1967 – Federal Republic of Germany
Fairy-tale performances for children, adaptations of young adult books and classics
of world literature for young people – this play canon dominated West German repertories after World War II. In the synopsis this period, lasting to the end of the 60’s, is
held to be one of conservative theatre lacking contemporary plays. It was a phase in
which children’s world literature was put on stage. Often performed were pieces by
Erich Kästner, Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer”, Friedrich Forster’s
“Robinson soll nicht sterben” and, as one of the few critical contemporary plays of
these years, “Fips an der Angel” by Dieter Rohkohl. Premiered 1951 in Berlin, this
play describes the fate of a war orphan. Klaus Doderer states for this time that mainly
Henning Fangauf: Development of a Repertory
in the large cities such as Berlin and Munich youth theatres had developed which
dared to experiment and offered an all year repertory, drawing from an ever growing
range of plays. In statistics of the German Theatre Association listing all plays performed on West German stages since 1947, children’s and youth theatres weren’t
even mentioned until 1971. Only in 1974 was there a significant rise in performances
at children and youth theatres that could be traced back to the increased founding of
independent theatres.
1949 to 1989 – German Democratic Republic
In the GDR children’s and youth theatre repertory developed completely different.
Already in 1946 the Theater der Jungen Welt opened in Leipzig with “Emil und die
Detektive” (Emil and the detectives). In the 50’s there followed the founding of more
theatre houses for children and young adults in Dresden, Berlin, Halle and Erfurt, in
contents picking up the threads of the proletarian-revolutionary theatre with children
and for children of the 1920’s, according to Christel Hoffmann. With their commissions these theatres supported authors who built up a repertory of adaptations of
fairy-tale and classic material, contemporary and historical drama. To these belong
Heinz Kahlau, Elke Erb, Adolf Endler, Peter Ensikat. Undisputed was the quality of
the fairy-tales by Sowjet playwright Jewgenij Schwartz. But Sowjet contemporary literature mainly served as model for the social-political youth topics of GDR dramatists.
At the end of the 80’s, the central stage-work publisher of the GDR, Henschel
Schauspiel, listed approx. 200 titles for children and youth, 50% of these written by
national authors. Adaptations of folk-tales, but also the invention of own fairy-tales,
the classics of the GDR children theatre, take up a large space. Famous playwrights,
who also worked for adult theatre, such as Thomas Brasch or Lothar Trolle, Stefan
Heym and Peter Hacks, wrote for the GDR children and youth theatre. They largely
contributed to the so-called GDR “national literature” not making a difference between drama for adults or for children. Horst Hawemann, long time chief director at
the central DDR Kinder- und Jugendtheater “Theater der Freundschaft” in Berlin,
made a special name for himself with his plays “Kokori” (1979), “König Drosselbart
und das Mädchen Prinzessin” (1985) or “Die Katze” (1986). Albert Wendt’s plays
“Der Sauwetterwind” (1982) and “Vogelkopp” (The bird-headed man, 1985) had already found their way into the repertories of both German states even before the reunification of 1989. In the GDR special attention was paid to author sponsorship:
commissioned plays, author prizes and studio days were part of everyday life and
were then also taken up in the joint German-German theatre landscape after reunification.
After 1968 – Federal Republic of Germany
In West Germany a repertory as in the GDR and as defined at the beginning only
developed with the emergence of the social-critical, emancipation children’s and
youth theatre of the student movement at the end of the 60’s. Volker Ludwig, founder
and director of the Berlin Grips Theater became their most productive author. At his
side were his brother Rainer Hachfeld, as well as Reiner Lücker, Detlef Michel and
others. Alone between 1968 and 1978 they wrote 13 plays for the Grips Theater.
“Stokkerlok und Millipilli” (Stokkerlok and Millipilli,1969) is usually considered Grips
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Theater’s first play. It was followed by more plays for children, among others “Trummi
kaputt” (Trummi in pieces, 1971), “Mannomann!” (Man oh man, 1972), “Ein Fest bei
Papadakis” (A party at the Papadakis’,1973) or “Max und Milli” (Bedtimes and bullies,
1978). The first play for adolescents followed in 1975 with „Das hältste ja im Kopf
nicht aus“ (I can’t take no more), and in 1986 the worldwide hit „Linie 1“ (Line 1). All
of these were performed, not least because of a dearth of contemporary plays, by the
children’s and youth theatres being founded in quick succession all over Germany
and beyond.
Plays from the 50’s and early 60’s weren’t found on the repertory of this politicallyminded children’s and youth theatre. Instead they developed their material themselves, especially the independent theatres. The probably most famous cast production of that time were the two sex-education plays “Darüber spricht man nicht”
(Things that men don’t talk about, 1973) and “Was heisst hier Liebe” (Did you say
love? 1976) by the Theatre company Rote Grütze. Both plays, were regarded with
suspicion by conservative teachers because of their topic and jargon street language
and were based upon the cast’s month-long research in kindergartens and schools,
on playgrounds and youth centres. This authentic material refuted the argument, the
group wanted to indoctrinate youngsters. These plays also still belong to the repertory.
Another important step towards repertory development was done on some West
German stages in the 80’s. These houses were modelled along the lines of the inhouse-authorship of the GDR theatre. Between 1981 and 1983 the Württembergische Landesbühne in Esslingen hired the children’s book author and illustrator Paul
Maar and developed together with him the plays “Mützenwexel” (1981), “Freunderfinder” (Make a friend, find a friend, 1982) and “Die Reise durch das Schweigen”
(1983). Successful plays that also found their way into the repertory of the following
years. With Wilfrid Grote and Rudolf Herfurtner the Theater der Jugend in Munich
also discovered two new dramatists and developed with them several plays. Among
others “Das Krokodil weint mit” (1980) or “Die Lieblingsspeise des Tigers” (1985)
were created by Wilfrid Grothe and Rudolf Herfurtner’s successful play “Geheime
Freunde” (Secret friends, 1986) was written after the novel “Alan and Naomi” (Der
gelbe Vogel) by Myron Levoy.
The difference to the cast plays of the independent theatres in the Seventies was that
artists such as Maar, Grote or Herfurtner saw themselves decidedly as authors, as
dramatists and that theatres were looking for and appreciated this competence in
design of language and story-telling. Although successful, the model of an in-house
authorship has not managed to break through at German children’s and youth theatres, just like the idea of plays being commissioned by the theatres. In Germany
dramatists still remain solo-players who find their workplace more at their own desks
than in theatres.
Because of the growing interest of theatre publishers in plays for children and youth
theatre the compilation of a repertory received important impulses. Especially the
founding of the Verlag der Autoren in 1969 and the publishing house Autorenagentur
in 1980, both in Frankfurt on Main, created lectoral handling and legal representation
for authors. Today almost 20 publishers compete for the authors of German children’s and youth theatre.
Since 1974 the Verlag der Autoren represents also the performance rights for Friedrich Karl Waechter, whose contemporary fairy-tale adaptations, e.g. “Der Teufel mit
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den drei goldenen Haaren” (The devil with the three golden hairs) or “Die Bremer
Stadtmusikanten” 1977 as well as his clown and nonsense pieces “Schule mit
Clowns” (School for clowns, 1975) or “Kiebich und Dutz” (Kibby, 1979) became influential for repertories. Since then Waechter has written innumerable plays, some
brought to stage by himself, for some he designed the stage set. In the Verlag der
Autoren book editions with plays for children’s and youth theatre are also regularly
published, among others the series “Spielplatz”.
Since the middle of the 1980’s German children’s and youth theatre has had a varied
repertory at its disposal. This consists of fairy-tale adaptations, dramatizations of
children and youth literature, adaptations of classics from antiquity to modern times
and author plays. To these are added plays from foreign countries, for which the
approx. 150 professionally working children’s and youth theatres with their approx.
700 premieres annually are also an economically interesting market. Here mostly
leading authors from Sweden, Holland, Denmark, Italy and Great Britain participate
and substantially enrich the German repertory with their stories and writing styles.
Important stations for international plays in German repertories were “Medeas
Kinder” (1984) by Suzanne van Osten, “Eine Nacht im Februar” (1986) by Staffan
Göthe, “Dussel und Schussel” (1986) by Ad de Bont, “Der Junge im Bus” (1988) by
Suzanne van Lohuizen and “Mirad, ein Junge aus Bosnien” (1993) by Ad de Bont.
With the founding of the “Kinder-und Jugendtheaterzentrum in der Bundesrepublik
Deutschland” 1989 in Frankfurt on Main the authors received a platform for continual
support and sponsorship for the first time. Since then they can regularly educate
themselves in dramatist workshops, present their new plays in public performances
like the annual “Frankfurter Autorenforum für Kinder-und Jugendtheater” and also in
international exchange such as the work of the association “Interplay Europe e.V. –
Festival of Young Playwrights”. The Federal Republic’s theatrical scene wouldn’t be
so diverse if the author forums hadn't always looked to foreign countries. New talents
like Katharina Schlender, Ingeborg von Zadow, Andri Beyeler, Wolfgang Mennel or
Kristo Šagor, whose plays have now found their way into the repertory, profit from
these initiatives. For the first time in 1995 the centre published “Reclams Kindertheaterführer”, a play guide with “100 plays for the young stage”. Since 1996 the centre
bi-annually carries out the Deutscher Kindertheaterpreis and the Deutscher Jugendtheaterpreis, on behalf of the Federal Ministry of Youth. The best plays for children
and youth theatre are awarded € 10.000 each. With Kai Hensel, Lutz Hübner or
Kerstin Specht celebrated authors from Germany belong to the award winners, but
also foreign authors such as Ad de Bont, Heleen Verburg or Jonna Nordenskjöld
have received the prize.
Literature
Brauneck, Manfred, and Gérard Schneilin (1986) Theaterlexikon. Reinbek bei Hamburg.
Doderer, Klaus, and Kerstin Uhlig (1995) Geschichte des Kinder- und Jugendtheaters
zwischen 1945 und 1970. Frankfurt am Main.
Deutscher Bühnenverein ed. (1978) Was spielten die Theater? Spielpläne in der
Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Köln.
Hoffmann, Christel (1978) Kinder- und Jugendtheater der Welt. Berlin.
Mittelstädt, Eckhard ed. (2004) Grimm & Grips 18: Jahrbuch für Kinder- und Jugendtheater 2004/2005. Frankfurt am Main.
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Henning Fangauf: Development of a Repertory
© Kinder- und Jugendtheaterzentrum in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Frankfurt
am Main und Berlin
This text has been published in "IXYPSILONZETT" Magazine for Children´s and
Young People´s Theatre, No. 2, 2005
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