Rod theater

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Ensemble of the Rutentheater 2006 ("Princess Turandot")

The Rod Theater is part of the Rutenfest school and city festival in Ravensburg , Upper Swabia , which takes place every summer at the end of the school year. The performances of the amateur play performed by the students take place in the Ravensburg Concert Hall.

history

Theatrical performances at the Rutenfest have been documented since 1697. In that year, “Ravensburger Komödianten” was allowed by the city council in a “Komödiantenordnung” to perform a “Komödi” at the time of the Rutenfest. The performances of the denominational bourgeois comedian societies in the Old Theater (with about 300 seats) were generally concentrated around the carnival time and the Rutenfestzeit. In 1771 a group of Catholic students also applied for permission to play theater at the Rutenfest.

The rod theater as a permanent institution in the course of the festival, played by Ravensburg children and young people, dates back to the 1820s. In 1821 three children's plays were shown by schoolchildren, alternating with a “declamatorium” (recitation of poems). In 1823, at the suggestion of the Rector of the Latin School and Realschule, Johannes Dehlinger, schoolchildren and members of the “Dramatic Society” played a play called “The Bird Shooting”, the content of which presumably provided the occasion to hold such a bird shooting at the Rutenfest that same year . Since then, the annual “eagle shooting” of the high school students has been one of the highlights of the rod festival. Since then, a theatrical performance of youth plays or fairytale adaptations has taken place almost every year at the Rutenfest, later the number of performances was increased to two and three per year.

In 1863, Johann Philipp Glökler reported about the Rutentheater in his book about "Land und Menschen Württemberg":

Tuesday has its very special pleasure. At half past seven in the morning, young and old rush to the theater. Lyceal, junior high and elementary school students play calculated pieces for children. It is often surprising how well they do their roles. The pauses between the first and second drama are filled with declamations of partly serious and partly comic poems. And spectators and listeners - the rather spacious theater is almost crowded every time - are eyes and ears. Even if the game lasts as long as it wants, nobody complains of losing time. "

In 1868 an anonymous author reported in the entertainment supplement "Der Hausschatz":

On the Sunday before the Ruthenwoche, the students put on a play in the city theater, in which the theater fills up with spectators as actual actors like to see it. The same drama will be given again on the second day of the festival (Tuesday) after 10 a.m. and associated with declamatory lectures. "

Rod theater ensemble, around 1895–1900

After the Old Theater was closed in 1881, the performances took place in the domed gymnasium ; from 1898 in the newly built concert hall.

In 1934 a political trend play was played in the Rod Theater (“The People on the Border” by Rudolf Fitzek ), but from 1935 onwards, fairy tale materials followed again, for example at the last Rod Festival before the Second World War in 1939 “Peterchens Mondfahrt”. At the first post-war festival in 1947, William Shakespeare was given What You Will .

One school was now responsible for the design of the theater in one year; the responsibility changed in turn. In the 1960s, the Rod Theater was in decline: in 1966 the concert hall, which could hold more than 500 spectators, had just 70 visitors at the premiere. In 1973, the organizational structure was fundamentally changed for the last time: all Ravensburger students were invited to participate, were therefore able to gain several years of stage experience and from now on were also professionally instructed (initially by a dramaturge from the Tübingen State Theater). The rod theater recovered quickly, with a record attendance as early as 1976, and in 1980 all twelve performances were sold out.

Rod theater today

Ensemble of the Rod Theater 2011 ("Peter Pan")

The ensemble of the Rutentheater consists of around 100 pupils from all types of schools in Ravensburg, who are selected in a casting every January. The musical accompaniment is provided by an orchestra from the Ravensburg Music School (around 70 musicians), local ballet schools provide dance performances (around 70 dancers). Another 30 people work behind the stage. The Ravensburg Rod Festival Commission is responsible for the organization.

Mostly fairy tales or subjects from children's and youth literature are played in free adaptations specially created for the rod theater. Small allusions to local politics and swipes at the neighboring town of Weingarten are part of the tradition. For the final applause, all participants gather on the stage and join the audience in singing the Ravensburger Heimatlied “Mein Ravensburg im Schwabenland”.

In 2012, the students put on 17 performances within 9 days in two casts. Morning performances are attended by school classes, afternoon and evening performances go on sale. The performances are mostly sold out; Long queues form in front of the ticket office every year at the start of advance sales. In 2017, in addition to 2,500 student tickets, 6,060 admission tickets went on sale, 3,000 of which were sold on the first day. The number of viewers this year corresponded to around 17% of the Ravensburger population.

The participants in the Rod Theater also take part in their theater costumes in the historical parade through Ravensburg's old town on “Rod Monday”.

Performed pieces

“The devil with the three golden hairs” (2010) at the rod pageant

(since 1995)

See also

  • A comparable institution in Upper Swabia is the "Schützentheater" at the Biberacher Schützenfest , which has been in use since 1819 .

literature

  • Helmut Binder, Alfred Lutz, Markus Glonnegger: The Ravensburger Rutenfest in the past and present . Biberacher Verlagsdruckerei, Biberach 1997, ISBN 3-924489-87-4
  • Eva Lamprecht: The educational relevance of fairy tale pieces. Traditional children's theater at the Ravensburger Rutenfest . Admission work. PH Weingarten, Weingarten 1980 ( SWB catalog )

Web links

Commons : Rod Theater  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Notes and individual references

  1. a b c Helmut Binder: The Rutenfest from the beginning to the time around 1900 , in: Helmut Binder, Alfred Lutz, Markus Glonnegger: The Ravensburger Rutenfest in past and present . Biberacher Verlagsdruckerei, Biberach 1997, ISBN 3-924489-87-4 , in particular pp. 33–35
  2. possibly the play of the same name by the successful author Heinrich Clauren at the time ; for the book edition from 1822 see Bayerische Staatsbibliothek or Google Books
  3. There are no references to the years 1824 and 1827–1829; in addition, the rod festival and thus the rod theater 1915–1920, 1938 and 1940–1946 were canceled; In 1968 there was no rod theater due to the renovation of the concert hall
  4. Ravensburg , in: Johann Philipp Glökler: Land and people of Württemberg . Volume 3. Cammerer, Stuttgart 1863, p. 403 ( chapter "Ravensburg" at Wikisource )
  5. The Ruthenfest in Ravensburg , in: The house treasure. Entertainment supplement to the Franconian Volksblatt. 1st year, Würzburg 1868, pp. 195–200, here p. 200 ( digitized version )
  6. Alfred Lutz: Between tradition and change. The Rod Festival from 1900 to 1950 , in: Helmut Binder, Alfred Lutz, Markus Glonnegger: The Ravensburger Rod Festival in the past and present . Biberacher Verlagsdruckerei, Biberach 1997, ISBN 3-924489-87-4 , pp. 39-100
  7. Markus Glonnegger: The Rutenfest and its development from 1951 to 1996 , in: Helmut Binder, Alfred Lutz, Markus Glonnegger: The Ravensburger Rutenfest in past and present . Biberacher Verlagsdruckerei, Biberach 1997, ISBN 3-924489-87-4 , pp. 101–223
  8. http://www.schwaebische.de/home_artikel,-Beim-letzt-Auftritt-fliessen-oft-Traenen-_arid,2418677.html
  9. http://www.schwaebische.de/freizeit/freizeit-uebersicht/heimatfeste-in-der-region/rutenfest-old_artikel,-Wir-benutzen-die-Vorlagen-als-Spielmaterial-_arid,5282083.html
  10. das-rutenfest.de ( Memento of the original from July 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 11, 2012 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.das-rutenfest.de
  11. These are the real rod theater fans , Schwäbische Zeitung, July 4th 2017