Brundibár

Unity is strength

Standing in the market square beside his barrel organ, the boastful Brundibár throws his weight around, imposing his rule on children and passers-by alike. When Aninka and Pepíček arrive to sing in the hope of earning enough money to buy milk for their sick mother, he drives them away brutally. Helped by a sparrow, a cat, a dog and soon a whole gang of children, they decide to stand up to this petty tyrant. Beneath the guise of a children’s tale, Brundibár carries a far darker history.

Composed by Hans Krása, the work was first performed clandestinely in Prague in 1942 before becoming, in the concentration camp of Theresienstadt, one of the most powerful symbols of artistic life sustained against impossible odds. With performers aged six to sixteen, Suzie Baret-Fabry and Pénélope Driant present a production in which the energy of theatre and collective singing becomes a response to violence and oppression.