The Tin Soldier and the Paper Dancer - by Roland Schimmelpfennig, freely after Hans Christian Andersen

by Roland Schimmelpfennig, freely after Hans Christian Andersen
Junge Württembergische Landesbühne Esslingen

A one-legged tin soldier and a paper dancer take us on an adventure. It begins when the child who owns them receives new toys for their birthday and both are cast aside on the windowsill - where they fall in love. But fate allows them only a single glance. The window flies open, a gust of wind tears them apart. The dancer, light as a feather, spirals ever higher into the sky. The tin soldier plunges down into the gutter below.

Left helpless against all manner of dangers, both set off into the unknown with no hope of reunion. The paper dancer must contend with a moody cloud and falls into the clutches of a possessive magpie. The tin soldier is placed by mischievous children onto a paper boat that sweeps him into the sewers, where rats and a hungry giant fish make his life miserable.

Then the unthinkable happens: both escape their ordeals, and an almost fairy-tale coincidence brings them back together. Nothing stands in the way of a happy ending - or does it?

Recommended for children aged six and up.