The Fish Who Found the Sea

The „Parkettgarderobe“ in the National Theatre in Munich is transformed into an underwater world for the production Wie der Fisch zum Meer fand (The Fish Who Found the Sea). The young audience encounters a group of fish dancing their way through the sea. Among this group is a fish that thinks so hard about its ability to swim that it panics and no longer knows how to move at all. Only after a long search does he realise that he is in exactly the right place. The production for children aged four and over is based on a picture book with a story by Alan Watts, a British philosopher and writer. The Fish Who Found the Sea is the first and only story he wrote for children. Central to all his works is an examination of the conditions for contentment and happiness.

Munich-based director Franziska Angerer integrated ballet scenes from Charlotte Edmond's Generation Goldfish in her 2022 production. This is a choreography that the young choreographer brought out in 2021 as part of Today is tomorrow at the Bayerisches Staatsballett. Classical and contemporary dance vocabulary is brought closer to the world of fish. It is about the joy of moving and marvelling at the fascinating world that unfolds underwater. A number of fish swim past on the walls of the Königssaal as a video projection, while gurgling and splashing sounds emanate from the loudspeakers. For Franziska Angerer's production, four scenes from the original ballet production Generation Goldfish were selected and rehearsed by leading ballet master Thomas Mayr with dancers from the Bayerisches Staatsballett. The electronic music that can be heard in the production was composed by Katya Richardson. She has playfully translated the bubbling water sounds into electronic sounds. For the revival of Wie der Fisch zum Meer fand, Magdalena Padrosa set up the production for the Königssaal in the National Theatre.