Sydney Theatre Company and UBS Investment Bank present
Gross Und Klein
(Big and Small)
A Journey across contemporary Germany
by Botho Strauss
English text by Martin Crimp

*Update 8 September 2011: Due to the need to convalesce after an unexpected operation, Luc Bondy has had to withdraw as Director of the upcoming production of Gross und Klein. Fortunately for the project, Benedict Andrews has agreed to take on directing this fabulous adaptation of this great play.

Whisking us down a rabbit hole and into a wonderland-like world, Gross und Klein (Big and Small) transports us to a hotel dining room in Morocco where Lotte sits alone. She is all dressed up with nowhere to go. There is no one to chat to. Her siesta tour group is ‘at odds’ so she declines to join their excursions. She hasn’t the money to pay for them anyway. For now she will sit alone, listening to the men arguing outside the window, stoically cheerful in the hope that someone, somewhere will need her help or affection.

Here begins an exquisite sequence of scenes in which the courageously optimistic and perpetually disappointed Lotte searches for human connection. She is rejected by her husband, unrecognised by old friends and unfamiliar with her family. Even Lotte’s acquaintances won’t admit to being acquainted with her. Whether she is outside a window peeping in or buzzing on an unanswered intercom this iconic protagonist never quite fits. Like Carroll’s Alice, sometimes Lotte is too big for her surroundings, sometimes too small to be noticed within them.

Bringing with him an opera director’s sense of scale, virtuoso director Luc Bondy will realise this panorama of a play as a mesmerising journey from the imposingly grand to the minutely detailed.

This ambitious theatre project is a co-production with some of Europe’s leading theatre companies and festivals including Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, Théâtre de la Ville Paris and Luc’s own Wiener Festwochen. It will premiere at Sydney Theatre in 2011 before touring to Europe in early 2012.

SYDNEY THEATRE
Schools Day Wed 23 November
Pre-show Intro 10:30am, 45 minutes
Performance 12:15pm
Duration 3 Hours, including interval
Post-show Q&A immediately following, 15 minutes

Content Adult themes, strong language

Suits Years 9 - 12

Cost $21/student

Curriculum Links: 
Drama - Individual Project: Critical Analysis, Design

English - Belonging

PDHPE - Self and Relationships

Resources:  Comprehensive student and teacher resources provided