Roland Schimmelpfennig

Das Reich der Tiere
Trilogie der Tiere II
2 D, 4 H, Verwandlungsdek
UA: 1.09.2007 · Deutsches Theater, Berlin · Directed by: Jürgen Gosch
It takes six years for some. Day by day, they are a part of it in Das Reich der Tiere (The Animal Kingdom). The costumes leave their mark, but the actors disappear into their roles. Featherless and fur free, they are invisible and exchangeable. Identifications make them antelopes, genets, marabous. Magnificently costumed, they tell of the cunning of the lion and the good nature of the zebra. Of coups d’etat and despotism. Of the fall of the winners as well as the losers.
Roland Schimmelpfennig links fable with the here and now. He tells a tale of how cunning weaves strong nets, of how good nature can bring you to a standstill. How the lion can turn into a fried egg and antelopes into toast. How quality can be the victim of arbitrariness and the profane the victor of taste. And how quickly such a net can tear again.
In a fascinating mixture of stage spectacle and chamber play, Das Reich der Tiere reveals the mechanisms of power and the ambiguity of victory. After all, success always has its flipside.
Translated into: Czech, English, French, Spanish, Swedish