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A warm and poetic play about serious matters
Cranky
Compagnie Auf der Strasse, Karlshamn
A play by Ada Auf der Strasse
Script in collaboration with Manne af klintberg
Cast: Ada Auf der Strasse, Jörg Teichgraeber
Age: 10-15 years
Dansverkstan, Kulturcentrum in Ronneby, October 21st
The troll woman Cranky is forced away from her home in Troll Forest and is launched straight into the real world. Compagnie Auf der Strasse tells her story as a refugee in a warm and poetic story. The play picks up a lot of important subjects.
Cranky is a play for children, youths, parents and teachers and premiered in Scenarium in Karlshamn on Saturday October 19th. Yesterday it was shown in Ronneby during the Skolscen Sydost festival.
Karlshamn company Compagnie Auf der Strasse engages an important theme in a globalized world where society’s climate seems more harsh. With the play Cranky they have created a fantasy world, intertwined with the real world.
From Troll Forest
During a storm the troll woman Cranky is thrown out of Troll Forest and is forced to cross an ocean to reach the real world. The main character is a puppet that tells her story and her adventures as a refugee. It is a journey that takes the audience through many layers of values, power struggles and delusions in a world that can be cruel and ignorant.
The play is based on interviews made with children and youths that came to Sweden as 9-13 year olds. It is also the target group for the play. But Cranky can be any one of us that is forced to leave home. The framing of this dramatic story is the involuntary journey in reality where the troll woman from the magic world faces some unexpected obstacles on the road.
With great presence and intimacy Ada Auf der Strasse dances and stars as the double part of Cranky and her personal assistant (or puppeteer) Mrs Elke Sommer. She plays and changes between the tow characters, quick but subtle.
New culture secretary
Mrs Sommer isn’t just anyone. She is the new culture secretary in the city, but decides to try it as an actor since the municipality has to save money. And even with budget cuts, you can still have some nice culture. At least that’s what the people in charge believe. Cranky is at first upset when she realizes that she is stuck with an amateur. But the show must go on, and eventually the play can begin.
Through mimicking, movements, music and ingenious set design Cranky invites the audience into important subjects like loneliness, losing your home and being an outsider. It is a poetic story with a great sense of both humour and seriousness that raises questions of how we make use of the world and how we treat people from other countries and cultures.
An outsider
The script doesn’t agitate or moralize, instead Cranky wants us to reflect and ask ourselves what we think of the aspects of identity, prejudice and empathy. Some scenes deal with strong subjects of child soldiers, war, climate change and power abuse. But Cranky and Mrs Sommer gives us hope. Often there is an outstretched hand in the dark, even if we never can take for granted that safety roams where we expect it to be.
Anna Lundholm, BLT October 22nd
CHILDREN`S thoughts after seeing CRANKY:
"..what if you were forced to killing your own family... the ones you love... or else you risk being killed yourself... I am so happy for living in Sweden and that i have what I have"
Anna Johansson, 11 years, Karlshamn
"... if we were older we might have thought it was silly, but still embraced the sotry of the play... if we were younger we might just have thought that it was funny,because Cranky was a talking puppet... the message was really great!"
Moa and Saga,10 years, Karlshamn
"It was really great! It shows how horrible life is for child soldiers..."
Mattias Coldwell, 12 years, Karlshamn
"Wow, it was great how you danced with the puppet... can I try it?"
Marlin, 13 years, Linköping
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