Fräulein Else

What drives a child to extremes? In Robert Walser’s short drama, Der Teich (The Pond), the haunting story unfolds of a boy who does not feel loved by his family. At the height of despair, he fakes his own suicide. Blurring the lines between monologue and dialogue, the author zooms into the boy’s mind and shows how the self is disintegrating in a riot of emotions.

The award-winning actors Adèle Haenel and Julie Shanahan will team up with eight dolls to stage a psychoactive chamber drama about power dynamics and agonising family structures, in a production by theatre artist Gisèle Vienne. Lighting designer Yves Godin and the musicians Stephen O’Malley – frontman of the legendary doom metal band Sunn O))) – and François Bonnet have created a trance-like light and sound environment for Vienne’s piece. The Pond is a choreography into the darkest depths of the soul and a captivating journey.

Since 1999, Gisèle Vienne has been exploring subjects that touch upon social taboos in her choreographic and theatre works. Her productions such as Kindertotenlieder and the party-in-slow-motion choreography CROWD are defining works in recent dance history. In 2024, exhibitions at Haus am Waldsee and Georg Kolbe Museum showcased the disturbingly lifelike puppets that are characteristic of Vienne’s work. This year, the Franco-Austrian artist, who studied philosophy, music and puppeteering, will present her work based on the literary text Der Teich in Berlin for the first time. Her debut production at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz is scheduled for the 2028/2029 season.