The juggler's tale
The juggler's fairy tale is a 1982 play by Michael Ende . The subtitle Ende calls the piece “A game in seven pictures as well as a prelude and epilogue”.
content
A small circus has existential fears. The management of a chemical company offers the jugglers to go for them through the country and to advertise their products. The only condition is to send the mentally handicapped girl Eli, who the jugglers picked up terminally ill after a chemical environmental catastrophe in a ditch, to a home, since Eli is hardly suitable for an advertising campaign.
In the discussion about a decision, Eli asks the clown Jojo to tell her a fairy tale.
- people
- Jojo, the clown, in the fairy tale Prince Joan
- Eli, a girl, in the fairy tale Princess Eli
- Kalophain, the mirror (female role)
- Angramain, the spider, also Smeralda, the green lady (male role)
- Prince Joan's fool
- The husband minister
- Pippo, the acrobat and juggler
- Bux, the ventriloquist with his doll Ottokar
- Yusuf the magician
- Lola, the tightrope walker
- Wilma, the archer and knife thrower
- Mirror images, dignitaries, brides, lady figures
The piece can be played by 7 people.
reception
Wilfried Hiller wrote music for the juggler's fairy tale in 1998, and Gerhard Konzelmann composed an opera that premiered at the Cologne Opera in 1988.