Struwwelpeter - Stage Adaptations

Stage Adaptations

Shockheaded Peter (1998) is a musical created by Julian Bleach, Anthony Cairns, Julian Crouch, Graeme Gilmour, Tamzin Griffin, Jo Pocock, Phelim McDermott, Michael Morris and The Tiger Lillies (Martyn Jacques, Adrian Huge and Adrian Stout). The production combines elements of pantomime and puppetry with musical versions of the poems with the songs generally following the text but with a somewhat darker tone. Whereas the children in the poems only sometimes die, in the musical they all do. Commissioned by the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds and the Lyric Hammersmith in West London, the show debuted in 1998 in Leeds before moving to London and subsequently to world tours.

Struwwelpeter (2004), is a work for narrator and orchestra was staged in the Athens Concert Hall as the main Christmas program of Kamerata Orchestra of Friends of Music. The music was written by Alexandros Mouzas and was commissioned by the Athens Concert Hall. The production ran for 8 sold-out performances.

Struwwelpeter – In English! (2006) was taken to the 60th Edinburgh Festival in August. The production used a variety of magic, mime, physical theatre, and black-comedy to recreate the tales. The show had a sell-out run and returned in 2007 for a second run of the sell out show. The show was directed and performed by Owen Daniel, Susannah Ashfield, Isobelle Miller, Alexandra Gillam and Perran Crosley.

Devilish Children and the Civilizing Process (2010) is a stage play adapted, produced, directed and performed by the Dream Theatre Company of Chicago. It is based on several of the stories from Der Struwwelpeter, including "The Story of Cruel Frederick", "The Dreadful Story of Pauline and the Matches" and "The Story of Little Suck-a-Thumb". It also includes an adaption of "Cry Baby", from Slovenly Betsy, another children's book written by Heinrich Hoffmann and illustrated by Walter Hayn, in the spirit of Struwwelpeter; it was published in 1917 for an American audience. It is a liberal adaption written by Dream Theatre Company's co-founder and Artistic Director Jeremy Menekseoglu. It was originally performed for Halloween (a theatre tradition). The play is a bit more ghoulish than the original poems. It places a misbehaving 3-year-old Karl, in a 19th century boarding school, where he will be "taught to be civilized" by the "Devilish Children" as they go through "a series of grotesque cautionary tales in which bad children get far worse than they deserve". The original Chicago performance featured Annelise Lawson, Chad Sheveland, Judith Lesser, Bil Gaines, Rachel Martindale, Mishelle Apalategui, Anna Menekseoglu and Jeremy Menekseoglu; was designed by Anna Weiler, Giau Truong and Jeremy Menekseoglu; and staged managed by Kristi Bogart.