News

An exploration of the world as a theatre mobile for winged fish from the age of 6 is our subtitle for the new production together with Christiane Zanger (director), Susa Schmeel (text, dramaturgy) and Philipp Scholz (live music). It is about the hidden, the invisible and the astonishing BELOW us, in the earth and ABOVE us, in outer space. With the help of puppets, gravity, swing, sound, music and words, we invent beings and stories, ask new questions and make suggestions for living together. Premiere is on 9 September at Westfluegel Leipzig, performances at our co-producer FITZ Stuttgart on 7-12 October. Performances for school classes are planned at both venues, contact if interested: info(at)figurentheater-wildevogel.de.

In April we will start our cooperation with the theatre Ranga Shankara in Bengaluru/ India with a first working meeting! With the support of the International Co-production Fund of the Goethe Institute, a production for adults, young people and children is to be created, centred on the cunning and crude anarchist Till Eulenspiegel of the German folk book, presumably supported by jesters from other cultures. The premiere in Bengaluru is planned for mid-August, followed by the German premiere in mid-September at Westflügel Leipzig.
Ranga Shankara

(Working title: E.D. - Echologies)

During the joint work on the production "Der Reigen" (live premiere June 2021 at Westfluegel) the idea for this project arose, based on poems by Emily Dickinson. Joint improvisations by Kai Chun Chuang (dance) and Charlotte Wilde (music) during the lockdown last winter are the starting point for the work on a production that combines the elements of dance, live music and figures / light (Michael Vogel). The poems and biography of Emily Dickinson, who almost never left her home throughout her life and finally hardly ever received guests, are close to us after months of lockdown. A closer look at Dickinson's work leads us to many themes that are still significant today: multicultural dimensions of her space of thought and poetry, ecological aspects from a deeply felt connection to nature, as well as questions about the individual and society.
Co-production with Westflugel Leipzig, Directed by/ choreography: Rose Breuss.

Premiere 2 September at Westfluegel Leipzig, for further performances see programme, info

With the decree of 12 January, the state of Saxony allows us to open the theatre in Leipzig's Westfluegel again. With 50% capacity and 2G+. But it is not these restrictions that worry us, but the fact that as soon as bed occupancy and incidences rise above certain levels, we will have to close again within 2 days. So all dates in Leipzig are still unsure...

Our tour dates are also only doing well to a certain extent: performances are still cancelled, e.g. because an international festival cannot be planned with certainty under the current conditions (Imaginale Stuttgart), or because school classes in Austria are not allowed to come to the theatre (Stadtsaal Voecklabruck).

But for now we are very much looking forward to the reopening in the Westfluegel on 20, 21 and 22 January 22 with Krabat!

Due to the high Covid 19 infection rates in our region Saxony, the state government felt compelled to take so-called "breakwater" measures. Unfortunately, these also include the complete closure of all cultural institutions. Our performances planned at Westfluegel Leipzig are therefore cancelled until further notice. Whether and when the performances of Dust and Krabat planned for December can be made up for cannot be said at present: we have no perspective for reopening and unfortunately cannot include productions with colleagues from France, Israel and Poland in the programme overnight.

AS PART OF THE EXPEDITIONEN-FESTIVAL AT WESTFLÜGEL LEIPZIG

Workshop at Westflügel Leipzig from 11. to 13. October 2021. 
For participants with stage experience ::: Subscription: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The figure on the string will be researched in this workshop, starting with simple constructions, always with a view to the theatrical impression. Movement and construction are entwined, workshop and stage become one. The material can be light or heavy, small or big, shaped or unformed - the goal is always to find a coherent, authentic animation through strings.

On 1 July we celebrate the premiere of our new production The Flowers of Evil at Westflügel Leipzig!
Directed by Hendrik Mannes, dramaturgy and co-direction Antonia Christl, the work was created, following on from Spleen (2006) a renewed engagement with the work of Charles Baudelaire. A series of recordings of the poems in German, English and French were made for the production by, among others, Barbara Nüsse, Ilka Schönbein, Lilith Stangenberg, Bianca Casady and Rickie Lee Jones. The premiere at Stuttgart co-producer FITZ is scheduled for October, here are further dates. More

Case numbers are dropping, temperatures are rising and there is hope for live theatre!
First of all, we get to travel to Switzerland twice in May and show
on 19. and 20.05. Krabat at the Festival augenauf! in Winterthur
from 27 to 31 May The Hobbit at Theater Stadelhofen in Zurich.

From 3 to 6 June, Westflügel Leipzig is optimistically planning the Showcase that has already been postponed twice!
In this context, the premiere of our cooperation with Christoph Bochdansky and the Cie. Off Verticality! is finally to take place: Der Reigen, 3 June. Another premiere will follow with Micro on 5 June. And then on 6 June the Special Version of Songs for Alice.

And then it's into the final rehearsals for a project that has kept us busy for the whole of our Corona time: On 1 July, the premiere of our new production of The Flowers of Evil is planned at the Westflügel Leipzig. Dramaturgy, co-direction: Antonia Christl, direction: Hendrik Mannes. More dates here.

Sessions with Emily and Jean-Henri

For the international figuren.theater.festival "Zäsur" at Erlangen, Fürth and Nürnberg we are working on a series of short pieces for a very small audience with live-music and puppets. Inspiration for the visual side is the work of the entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre (1823-1915) and his work on the lives of insects. Different techniques evoke a microcosm of insects which is bizarre, allegorical or simply a self-sufficiant parallel existence. The musical work (vocals, violin, electronic effects, sequencer) sets some poems by Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) to music, which tell of intimacy and solitude but also of close affinity to nature.

Puppetry, performance: Michael Vogel, Live-Music: Charlotte Wilde
Artistic advice: Joachim Fleischer, Musical advice: Johannes Frisch
Co-production with the 22. international figuren.theater.festival erlangen, nürnberg, fürth

The premiere is planned at Westflügel Leipzig as part of the Showcase on 5th June.
Performances at Kulturforum Fürth have been moved to 23. to 26. September (22. internationales figuren.theater.festival)

Pre-listen on soundcloud

Mikrokosmos - Die Kulturreportage, by Manuel Waltz.
Listen and read here (in German)

Figurentheater in Leipzig

about our new production and cancelled premiere of Der Reigen / The Merry-Go-Round, about Westfluegel Leipzig and the stream-premiere of "The Fatal Marksman" by our colleagues Lehmann + Wenzel. 

Der Reigen (The Merry-Go-Round) is cancelled, has been cancelled, and, as is to be feared, will be cancelled again.

Together with Christoph Bochdansky (Vienna), Stefan Wenzel (Leipzig) and Cie. Off Verticality with the choreographer Rose Breuss (Linz) we developed our new production "Der Reigen. An extremely beautiful song about death" in spite of Corona-chaos in 2020. Four possible premiere dates have been cancelled since November. More dates are now scheduled for 25.02.2021 or 15.04.2021 (at Westflügel Leipzig). For the dry spell until then (or beyond...) there is this documentary by Thilo Neubacher, who witnessed rehearsals and internal premiere in November. Thank you very much for this, Thilo!

Der Reigen (fällt aus) by Thilo Neubacher on Vimeo.

After 150 performances in 10 years, in Poland, Germany, Austria, Denmark, France and Japan, and 10 cancelled performances in 2020, at last there is a recording of the songs from Krabat by Charlotte Wilde on texts by Christina Rosetti. Enjoy listening on https://soundcloud.com/wildevogel.

24h chat room, live stream, open mic!

On www.westfluegel.de or https://youtu.be/POeBnVYZYE0 you can observe the cultural vacancy 24 hours daily and fill it acoustically via telephone call.
The phone number to the inside of Westflügel's ballroom with latency and echo:
+49 178 6111 429 oder +49 178 6111 087.
If both numbers are called, one can communicate through the live stream.

An installation by Michael Vogel and Martin Jehnichen (streamio.de)

This sentence was written by Helen Keller, a blind and deaf author (1880-1968). Written in a letter to the New York Symphony Orchestra, whose concert broadcast of Beethoven's 9th Symphony she felt on the radio with her hand on the membrane (read here).

What Helen Keller describes is a moment of being touched by art which is currently only possible to a very limited extent due to the closure of cultural venues. Why this touch is so important and what is missing when it can no longer be experienced with other people, is what the Art Experience campaign of the Alliance of International Production Centers for Puppet Theater is all about. Not out of nostalgia, but in order to get closer to the relevance of art and culture, new personal art experiences of artists, members of the theatre's teams and the audience will be published daily from December 1 onwards. Moments which almost made the heart stand still or made it race, which released, connected, moved or excited. Enlightenments and revelations!

https://kunsterlebnis.art/

After our first common rehearsals in May had to be cancelled due to the Covid-travel-restrictions, we were able to rehearse for our new production Der Reigen / The Merry-go-round with the whole team in September/ October: the choreographer Rose Breuss with her Cie. Off Verticality from Linz and the puppeteer Christoph Bochdansky from Vienna travelled to Leipzig to work together with Stefan Wenzel, Wilde & Vogel. Before meeting for the final rehearsals, theatres were now shut down again! The first 8 shows in Leipzig and Stuttgart are cancelled. We will keep you updated about new dates and maybe some kind of digital insights. Here you find infos about the production and the first pictures. 

From 25. June to 12. July Westfluegel Leipzig is opening its gates for The Temple - A walk-through installation. Amongst others with colleagues like Jan Jedenak, Li Kemme, Lehmann und Wenzel, Franziska Merkel and Tim Spooner.
Wilde & Vogel will show and perform live and as livestream:

21.06.Concert-Prologue: Protect Laika (Stefan Wenzel, Charlotte Wilde)
28.06.Concert: The Hobbit virtual (Charlotte Wilde)
04.07. Concert: Frankenstein - The Soundtrack (Johannes Frisch, Charlotte Wilde)

As part of the Temple-tour there will be an installation by Michael Vogel.

Info, Tickets and livestream-links on Westflügel Leipzig.

After three months of Covid-19 shutdown we are performing again with audience: Maria auf dem Seil (Maria on the Highwire). For everyone from 8 years, based on the novel by Lygia Bojunga Nunes, with Ines Müller-Braunschweig, directed by Christiane Zanger.

12., 13. and 14. June at Westflügel Leipzig.
According to hygiene measures the number of seats is restricted, please book in advance here. 

Although it was without live audience, there is a live recording of the performance Songs for Alice Special Edition from the end of April at Westfluegel Leipzig! Listen on https://soundcloud.com/wildevogel. 

About ticks, SARS-CoV-2 & an asymmetric war against culture

Livestream in English language: Saturday, 9. May, 20h / www.westfluegel.de / #westfluegelstream 

What does it mean to work and think independently and be a freelance theatre artist in these times?

This was the starting question for the one year project Biotopia of Grupa Coincentia from Białystok, and the two companies Wilde & Vogel and Lehmann und Wenzel from Leipzig in 2018. From this they developed the Documentary Kukułka in 2019, meandering between world war II, dusty pickle glasses, Jewish graveyards and obsessive sexual fantasies, great and greatly demanding for the audience.

Due to a virus the project nearly failed already in the beginning (tick!), due to a virus the planned performances in May are cancelled (SARS-CoV2). What seems to be an asymetrical war against practised creativity can also be seen on the background of another asymetrical conflict: the political conditions for freelance theatre - in Poland and Germany.

Connecting these themes in a talk, Westfluegel Leipzig will livestream a discussion with the team of Biotopia and Kukułka. Using chat the audience will have the possibility to send comments, questions and to interact.

Again and as before we ask you to please buy tickets for performances even if we cannot invite you to be there (www.westfluegel.de or E-Mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Donations to Westfluegel are also welcome and helpful: Betterplace donation to Westfluegel.

Unfortunately we can still not invite audience to our next shows of Songs for Alice - Special Edition in April at Westfluegel Leipzig. Through the technical possibilities of Streamio Leipzig and the financial support of Studio Gold Leipzig there will be yet another Live-Stream. You are warmly invited!

Songs for Alice Live-Stream 25. April at 21h on www.westfluegel.de / #westfluegelstream

Again and as before we ask you to please buy tickets for performances even if we cannot invite you to be there (www.westfluegel.de or E-Mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Donations to Westfluegel are also welcome and helpful: Betterplace donation to Westfluegel.