When it comes to Christmas fairy tales, the house is always full

Once upon a time, about a year ago, students were allowed to return to the theater after the lockdown and watch a Christmas fairy tale there. "I still remember the enthusiasm well," says Isabella Vértes-Schütter, Artistic Director of the Ernst Deutsch Theater, "the children were very hungry for the theater experience."

In 2021, the capacity for the Christmas fairy tales was still limited, this year the entire hall in the EDT will again be available for the school performances - and all school performances for "Snow White" are already sold out.

"It looks as if we will achieve an occupancy rate of 98 percent this year, as we did last time in 2019," says Vértes-Schütter, "that is of course also important from an economic point of view." 60 sold-out performances mean 42,000 visitors at the EDT. Another advantage: Fairy tales are usually free of rights, so they are cheaper to produce than plays by contemporary playwrights.

The smaller Ohnsorg Theater has to put on 80 performances to reach 30,000 young visitors. The House for Low German Theater traditionally plays the Christmas fairy tale in High German, this time the story of the race between the "hare and the hedgehog". Ohnsorg director Michael Lang thinks it's good that this time a few phrases like "Ick bün all dor" flow into Platt, which rather enrich the piece.

Lang also emphasizes the enormous importance of Christmas fairy tales for the number of visitors to private theatres. The older audience, on the other hand, is currently acting “rather cautiously”, according to the Ohnsorg director. Vértes-Schütter confirms the reduced number of visitors and says, "We will not achieve the usual occupancy rate of a good 70 percent a year this year, so we will end up at 60 percent." the EDT director, can only speculate for the time being, because it is difficult to answer what part the concern about an infection has, which inflation has.

Michael Lang explains that not only are schools and educational institutions 100% back, but also that company bookings for the Advent season are back to where they were before the pandemic. The Christmas fairy tales are traditionally deliberately designed to be suitable for families. Lang: “Our Christmas plays are always for the little ones from the age of four, but they are definitely also interesting for much older children aged seven, eight or nine. We also make sure to always include a few curiosities for the parents so that they can have fun.”

Like Ohnsorg and EDT, most other theaters rely on Christmas tales to boost numbers at the end of the year during the more theatre-friendly dark season. This leads to a wide range. In addition to the musical "Räuber Hotzenplotz und die Mondrakete" by Otfried Preussler, the Schmidt Theater is showing the family musical "The Mindful Tiger" based on the picture book by Przemyslaw Wechterowicz for younger audiences.

Next door in the St. Pauli Theater is "The Little Prince". The classic by the French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry is suitable for children aged five and over. The Hamburger Kammerspiele show "Rico, Oskar and the Deeper Shadows" by Oscar Steinhöfel for children from the age of eight.

“The Thief Lord” will premiere at the Schauspielhaus on December 11 as a family play for children aged nine and over based on the novel by Cornelia Funke. "Alice in Wonderland" wonders about the Mad Hatter, the White Rabbit and the Cheshire Cat both in the Thalia Theater (from ten years) and in the theater for children. From November 27th, the classic “Hansel and Gretel” will be back on stage at the State Opera. Engelbert Humperdinck's opera has been performed there for 50 years.

"The Little Witch" by Otfried Preussler is on her broomstick in the Altonaer Theater, enchants children from the age of five in a version by John von Düffel. Also in Altona, the children's theater Wackelzahn plays the fairy tale "The Ugly Duckling" by Hans Christian Andersen in the Hoftheater Ottensen. The third Altonaer Christmas play is the show "The Little Christmas Dragon" based on the children's book by Anne Ameling in the First Stage Theater.