The “iSo” theatre project “On the courage to be different”, according to the Sozialverein in a statement, began in March 2024 as a weekly project under the direction of Chapeau Claque. The youth welfare association “Ja:ba” provided personnel support and ensured a structured process as well as additional motivation for the children involved.
During the weekly program, the children learned to interact with each other in a playful and structured way and to communicate using sounds, facial expressions and gestures. The children transformed sports equipment into sets and props to complete their first attempts at theater. Each week they also learned to put themselves in new situations, personalities and circumstances and to think up scenes for them.
In the weeks since March, the children have also been collecting ideas on the topic of “Your Heroes” together with the theater teachers from Chapeau Claque. They thought of people they looked up to and began to portray them in acting. The children were also introduced to the topic of “time travel.” They built their own time machines using various materials and thought up scenes for them.
Performance of the play
During the Whitsun holidays, we began working on a play on the theme of “Time travel to the heroes of our history”. A permanent group worked on various scenes, designed them, rehearsed them and performed them.
The children travelled through antiquity, the Middle Ages and other eras. There they met great personalities such as Socrates, Empress Kunigunde, Charles Darwin, Frida Kahlo, but also their current heroes such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappé.
The play that resulted from all of this was premiered at the “BasKIDhall” summer festival in front of families and friends and was met with great applause. The performance also marked the end of the theater project, from which the children were able to learn important lessons for their lives, according to the statement from “iSo”.
