Performance of “If I Was Doctor Know-It-All”

Thu 22 Mar 2012, 7.30
Youth Theater

An artist group – the Brothers Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm – lively fairytale characters – percussion group: A fast-paced mix of human and shadow theater.

From Goethe Institut:
For the second time around, Goethe-Institut Hanoi is looking forward to the visit of author, director and foreign language educationalist Dr. Dieter Kirsch. In 2009, Dr. Kirsch already managed to lead the Viet Duc High School’s theater group to stage Schiller‘s „The Robbers“ (German: „Die Räuber”) in Hanoi in little more than just one week.

In celebration of the Grimm Year 2012 there now is a new project: Staging a play in less than one week! Six days is all Dr. Kirsch, director of the theater group and author of the play, who is coming to Hanoi specifically for this event, Roland Kentschke and the artists have to get Dr. Know-It-All ready for the stage.

The Play

The play is about farmer Krebs who delivers wood to a doctor so that the doctor can fire his mantle. During his visit the farmer cannot help but notice how well off the doctor is, and wishes he himself could lead such a pleasant life.

The doctor says: „Become a doctor yourself then. Sell your cart and your oxen. Buy yourself a dictionary, new clothes, and put up a sign above your door that reads: “I am Doctor Know-It-All.”

Farmer Krebs follows suit, yet he is unhappy with the portrayal of his laboring as a doctor by the Brothers Grimm. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm therefore propose to him a spot in another fairytale. The farmer has a look at it, yet is dissatisfied again. The Brothers Grimm offer him another fairytale, but farmer Krebs dismisses it for being too magical. Finally, the Brothers Grimm confront him with a daunting example.

The moral of the story: Being unhappy with what one has and wanting more could have miserable consequences. The desire for more hardly ever leads to a happy ending in the world of fairytales. The extraordinary play invites sepctators to experience the Brothers Grimm, their methods and works from an unusual perspective and to reflect on them in a new, possibly more discerning way.

Languages: German with Vietnamese subtitles

Free Admission. Tickets are available at Goethe Institut, tel: 04 37342251