Wolfgang Maria Bauer

Der Zikadenzüchter
22 Szenen
4 D, 8 H, Verwandlungsdek
UA: 21.07.1992 · Bayerisches Staatsschauspiel (Marstall), München · Directed by: Kirsten Esch
“Sparta: a bureaucratically organised city-state, that temporarily wins hegemony in ancient Greece through a strong military. One of the archetypes of contemporary democracies. The people of Sparta are split in half: in their existence, in their nature. The gods have cut their own image into two: a punishment for the impiety of the people. Before, the people had four eyes, four legs and four arms, two faces and two sexes; they were rounded and complete. Now, there are only half-people. But was it really the gods who made the cut? ‘Where does he, who cuts, live? In Sparta? Or is that only his name? Sparta, yes, he could be called Sparta.’ Kalliope, a blind woman, asks this. With her and her six fellow sufferers, the cut failed. Mute, deaf, one-legged, dented, incurably sick and insane, they were abandoned in the wilderness of the Taygetos mountains immediately after birth. Taygetos, a healthy half-person, ostracised by the Spartans because of his humanity and empathy, saves this group of lost people and takes care of them.
This is where, years later, the story of the cicadas and their breeder starts. The outcasts want to go back to the people. They chased their saviour and breeder Taygetos away and are constantly planning their march to Sparta. They train in the Spartan virtues and become more and more human, sometimes in surprising ways. When they finally set out, these undead ones meet a Spartan patrol. The showdown begins.” (Martin Schall)