The Fisherman and His Wife | Little Red Riding Hood

The Fisherman and His Wife

... They once lived in an old hut and couldn’t seem to get anywhere. Well, where else could they go!? “My dear, doesn’t Ilsebill want things the way I do?” – Surely something like that could never happen to us. This ancient, eccentric and crude tale of greedy insatiability? It has nothing to do with us. But why, then, does it move us so deeply? What if it were actually possible: ever further, ever higher, ever bigger! And yet ever more dissatisfied. When is it time to stop dreaming, when suddenly every dream is within reach? ‘Once upon a time…’ becomes ‘here and now’. Aren’t we all a bit like Ilsebill?

Little Red Riding Hood

What a smart little girl, the very picture of innocence – what could possibly go wrong … Well, we were asked to remove this fairy tale from the children’s programme: distraught parents subsequently had far too much to explain to their little ones. If you read it aloud, it’s quite edifying. What you think of it, of course, remains a private matter. But if you act it out word for word, it becomes explosive. Because this wolf really does have only one thing on his mind – that’s right, the grandmother; what else did you think? And how does he devour her in bed? That’s right: in a single gulp; we’d be happy to act that out for you. No one, not even the audience, emerges from this fairy tale as sinlessly virginal as they went in. Let Little Red Riding Hood lead you into temptation, stray from the path for a moment, and discover the wolf within you!

• For adults only – admission from 14 years of age