Zinnober!

A piece of wood becomes a child, the child a student, the student a minister – and finally the president. Zinnober is the name of this root-like creature, to whom the abilities of others are ascribed as if by magic. With empty phrases and much fanfare, the tiny creature rises to power. But who is really controlling whom here? Zinnober himself, or those who give him words and form?

Theater Marie’s production uses a blend of live acting and puppetry to question the manipulative system of authoritarian power. Between truth and fiction, science and magic, this adaptation of E. T. A. Hoffmann’s fairy tale by the recent Swiss Literature Prize winner Martina Clavadetscher shows how easily a society can be deceived and how difficult it is to halt this misguided course.

ZINNOBER! is an evening of theatre about projections and responsibility, appearance and reality – and about the ever-present lure of power. Parallels with the current global situation and incumbent government leaders are, unfortunately, inevitable.

○ “Clavadetscher’s multi-layered text offers plenty of criticism: of us, of the media-driven public sphere, but also of the tech-bros’ religiously underpinned world view – and there are points of reference for this in E. T. A. Hoffmann’s work too.” Aargauer Zeitung

ZINNOBER! | Theater Marie