The mega fearsome Mrs Rottenmeier

Editor Adrian Schräder

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Young critic Gustavo can't look at it any more: Is the new production of Heidi that bad for kids?

Gustavo doesn't really know who Heidi is. The six-year-old has seen a picture of the young girl with the goats and the mountains before, but he doesn't know her struggle. As a result, the excitement before the premiere of the new children's production by Theater Kanton Zürich - written by Markus Steinwender and directed by Sophia Bodamer - is very limited. Thoughts are still revolving around the holiday nursery and the visit to a chocolate factory the day before.

And anyway, what is this strange room here with the organ pipes and the high ceiling? And can we go to McDonald's later? Critics aren't always equally motivated.

His companion explains: "Unfortunately, we can't have chicken nuggets. They have delivery problems. Sold out everywhere. Breadcrumbs scandal. It was on the news earlier. They only have salad with peppers and tomatoes. And about the organ pipes: This isn't the real theatre here, but an alternative venue, a parish hall, because the real theatre is being renovated. But the street has a nice name: Liebestrasse. "Why is it called that?" - I immediately regret the answer: "Well, because only lovely things happen here". What was it like with Heidi? One big happy dance?

Of course not, you remember: young Heidi is already an orphan and is sent off to the mountains, where a grumpy old hermit awaits her. Nobody, but really nobody, is on good terms with him. Understandable, because he is actually quite grumpy and doesn't want to know anything about Heidi staying with him from now on.

Gustavo squirms in his chair with discomfort: an unsympathetic grandad and a child who doesn't know where she belongs don't sweeten any divorcee's Wednesday evening. "Let's go to McDonald's anyway and just ask about the nuggets? Maybe they still have some after all..."

The nugget amnesia only begins with Geissenpeter. He comes along fresh and cheerful, bends the world to his liking and wears the songs on his tongue and a ukulele around his neck in the Schwyzerdütschen children's production. He calls himself the "Justin Bieber of the Alps". A figure to hold on to.

Now Gustavo can enjoy himself. After all, Heidi and Peter make sure it's interactive and fun. And there are always funny details to discover in this three-person play. Somehow Klara Seesemann has similarities with the Alpöhi. And when his goats turn up, they too seem to have the same sturdy humanity. "Look, you can see the bare legs!" Gustavo notes with amusement.

His favourite scene is clearly the one in which Peter pretends to be able to read, but holds the book upside down and makes something up.

He gets creeped out by the blustering governess Fräulein Rottenmeier and the scene in which Heidi wanders around at night and draws the curtain of the cleverly reduced stage set over herself like a veil.

But Rottenmeier doesn't have the last word, Heidi, Peter and the children in the audience do - and so Heidi returns to the mountains and the church stays in the village. And instead of nuggets, surprisingly, a buffet awaits the critic. Three raspberry gazosa and seven mini sausages in pastry later, the evening's balance sheet looks rosy all round. Gustavo is reconciled to the play and only wants to go to première parties. Minus Miss Rottenmeier: "She was soooo strict!"

Of course: at six years old, he is at the lower end of the age spectrum. But this play for three people, which is reduced with relish, does pick him up. "So she just likes the mountains better than the city?" he asks when we're back on Liebestrasse.