Abstract
Frau Bartolotti most enjoys having breakfast in her rocking chair, singing with her mouth full and splashing her dressing gown with coffee. Her little flat is stuffed with knickknacks and rather untidy, but that doesn’t bother anyone, for Frau Bartolotti enjoys her life alone. That is, until the day the postman delivers an enormous tin can. Frau Bartolotti can scarcely believe her eyes: out of the tin climbs the seven-year-old Konrad, brand new and, according to his birth certificate, her son. Frau Bartolotti doesn’t actually like children, but contrary to her expectations, Konrad is intelligent, decent and tidy. He goes to school, makes friends with Kitti, the clever girl next door, and soon finds a father in Frau Bartolotti’s best friend, the pharmacist Egon. By the time it transpires that the delivery of the tin can was a mistake and Konrad is reclaimed by the factory, everyone has grown so fond of him that nobody wants to let him go. Together, they concoct a plan to enable Konrad to stay with his new family…
Based on the successful children’s book, Konrad oder Das Kind aus der Konservenbüchse (Konrad or the Tin Can Child) by Christine Nöstlinger, Gisbert Näther has written a witty, uproarious piece of musical theatre for children from the age of 7. Director Claudia Blersch, who has already staged the family opera Das verzauberte Schwein (The Enchanted Pig) at the Opera House, will be producing the piece, conducted by Ann-Katrin Stöcker, on the Studio Stage.