Shockheaded Peter

Première 7 December 2016, Slovene National Theatre Nova Gorica
Running time 1 hour 30 minutes. No interval.

Translator Andrej Rozman Roza
Director Ivana Djilas
Dramaturg Ana Kržišnik Blažica
Language consultant Srečko Fišer
Authors of musical arrangements Boštjan Narat, Blaž Celarec, Joži Šalej
Répétiteur Joži Šalej
Set designer and puppet carve Barbara Stupica
Costume designer Jelena Proković
Choreographer Maša Kagao Knez
Puppet animation consultant Brane Vižintin
Lighting designer Samo Oblokar
Make-up designer Tina Prpar
Assistant set designer Ana Žerjal
Assistant costume designer Neli Štrukelj

Cast
Ana Facchini • Kristijan Guček • Peter Harl • Gorazd Jakomini • Patrizia Jurinčič Finžgar • Jure Kopušar • Matija Rupel • Marjuta Slamič • Andrej Zalesjak

Musicians
Blaž Celarec as guest • Boštjan Narat as guest • Joži Šalej as guest

The musical by the London cult band Tiger Lillies is an adaptation of the world-renowned children’s picture book Shockheaded Peter (Struwwelpeter, 1845) by the German psychiatrist, poet and writer Heinrich Hoffmann. This junk opera, as the authors themselves christened it, was first staged in 1998 in London, followed by stagings world-wide, from Broadway to the Viennese Burgtheater. It received a number of awards, including the 2002 Lawrence Olivier Award for Best Entertainment.
Hoffmann’s Shockheaded Peter encompasses different stories written in the epoque of the so-called Black Romantics. The bizzare stories tell of children’s misbehaviour and the possibly dangerous consequences. A boy who doesn’t want to eat gets thinner and thinner until he eventually dies; another boy who doesn’t mind his step falls in the water and almost drowns; a girl who plays with forbidden matches burns herself ... In these stories, fear is the instrument of teaching children good manners and obedience. In spite of the controversial tradition of such black pedagogics, this book is among the most successful children’s books ever; its motives have been used in literature, film and television. A bizzare operetta, for both adults and youth, that enthrals with the grotesque-morbid enhancing of stories with black humour.

The entire atmosphere of the production creates a sort of extravagant cabaret noir, which, apart from the aforementioned visual identity, is definitely brought through musical scores by Blaž Celarec, Joži Šalej and Boštjan Narat, the musicians who excellently fit in the production, both theatrically and stage-wise. (...) The authors staged a grotesque and extravagant, musically and theatrically rich, often extremely witty and bold, theatre treat.

Anja Bajda Gorela, Primorske novice, 17 December 2016