Shockheaded Peter  

Musical by the cult London group, The Tiger Lillies, is based on an adaptation of Shockheaded Peter (Struwwelpeter, 1845), a picture book for children written by a German psychiatrist, poet and author Heinrich Hoffmann.
Hofmann’s Struwwelpeter includes various stories written in the time of so-called Dark Romaticism. Bizarre stories describe bad behaviour of children and possible dangerous consequences of that kind of behaviour. A child, who refuses to eat, loses weight until he or she dies.
A child, who does not watch where he or she is going, falls into the water and almost drowns. A girl, who plays with forbidden matches, burns ... With the help of fear, writer tries to teach children good behaviour and obedience. Regardless of the dubious tradition of such black pedagogy, the work is one of the most successful children’s books. An unusual play dedicated to adults and youth enthrals with grotesque-morbid intensification of well-known stories and with black humor, and promises an excellent theatre event.
Premiere 7th December 2016
Duration of performance 1 hour and 30 minutes