Ulrich Zaum

Before the fox stepped onto the stage, the world functioned according to clear rules: the strong ruled, the weak served or were eaten up. The fox brings a ripple of change into the established order of things. He observes all of the creatures around him with the alert interest of a hunter watching its prey. Reineke sees that all action is ultimately determined by envy, greed, vanity and similar motives, and how weak and vulnerable an opponent becomes when he lets himself get caught up in illusion and wishful thinking. The fox invents politics as a game of deception and manipulation, as an instrument of power. He is the most gifted of actors in the theatre of false emotions, he sets up dazzling pieces of scenery in front of reality and pursues his own interests behind them. But does he still know what that is, who he is? With all the masks that he has worn, did he at some point discard his own face? In the end, is the only one being manipulated the manipulator himself?