Ecological Puppet Theatre

In the theatre’s sumptuous visual universe, all sorts of things turn up:  From simple hand-puppets to expressive pole-puppets, and sophisticated, lifelike sculptures.  The performances are either purely puppet theatre or they combine puppet theatre and dramatic storytelling with open dialogue between puppets and puppeteer.  Pigs sing opera arias, and mermaids dance to modern scores in performances in which music often plays a major role.

Throughout the years, the theatre has often used fairy tales as a springboard – particularly those of Hans Christian Andersen. The fairy tales reflect the fundamental values of the theatre: Respect for each other and the environment, beauty and imagination. Conveyed with a generous dollop of colourful comedy, wacky farce and defiant naiveté. 

Other performances are created from new, original stories that often play on quirks of language.  Common to the stories is hope for the future, because the theatre puts its emphasis on inspiring the audience with courage, hope and a positive view of life. This is theatre with moral standards, thoughtful reflection, and human caring.

Jytte Abildstrøm is an institution in Danish alternative theatre, because she was one of the first to take children’s theatre seriously and to communicate a worldview from a child’s perspective.  Since then, the productions have preserved a political element in the form of a commitment to society, particularly the environment.

Current Productions 

Alt i alt / All in All
(2006)
Humorous, musical puppet performance about a trip out into the world.  About seeing the great in the small. 
Language versions: Danish and English
Age group: 3–9 years old
Max. audience number: 80

Svinedrengen / The Swineherd
(2005)
Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale comes to life through a true act of magic in the storyteller’s workshop.  Prince, princess, pigs, courtesans and dowries pop out of sewing boxes and rubbish bins.
Language versions: Danish and English
Age group: 4-10 years old
Max. audience number: 100

Lidt af hvert / A Bit of Everything
(2002)
A cock, a pig and a horse are friends.  They come up with countless games using five apples from the cock’s tree.  A musical puppet play about the joy of sharing and about friends who help when, in your zeal and joy, you forget what you have promised.
Language versions: Danish and English
Age group: 1½ - 4 years old
Max. audience number: 30 children (max. 50 incl. adults)

Rub og stub / Lock, Stock and Barrel
(1998)
The story of a couple far out in the woods.  He sings to make the leaves go fair – she makes jam to drop the hare.  Inspired by the Finnish national epic Kalevala, language is allowed to blossom in amusing rhymes and ditties that tickle the musical ears of children. 
Language versions: Danish and English
Age group: 3 –9 years old
Max. audience number: 80

Sikken sæk / In the Bag
(1996)
The story takes place at the edge of a forest, where we meet a man, a horse, a hare, a squirrel, a hedgehog, and a mother bird with her babies.  A sweet and funny story told with music.
Language versions: Danish and English
Age group: 1½ - 4 years old
Max. audience number: 30 children (max. 50 incl. adults)

See the theatre’s other touring productions at www.riddersalen.dk

Review Extracts

”Jytte Abildstrøm’s Theatre has virtually specialized in making solid, colour-balanced wooden animals and puppets appear flexible.  And when, as here, they are pieces in a play in praise of nature, it is a pleasure that opens the imagination and whets the appetite.”
Information (DK), Sikken sæk