Enchanting theatre

Laienspielgruppe Bayer Uerdingen e. V.

Every christmas the members of the Bayer Uerdingen Amateur Dramatic Group stage a pantomime for children. What is special about it is that the actors also make the set, the costumes and the props themselves.

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Amateur dramatic group members in their Cinderella costumes

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Amateur dramatic group members in their Cinderella costumes

The amateur dramatic group currently has 69 members, whose aim is to stage an annual Christmas pantomime for children. Traditionally held in the first three weeks of Advent, the The show has become a regular fixture on the Krefeld theatrical calendar. In its early years the group staged fairy tales and plays such as Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew and Kleist’s The Broken Jug. Nowadays, with a predominantly young audience, its repertoire is based solely on fairy tales such as Cinderella, Dwarf Nose and King Thrushbeard.

History

In 1956 Will Horn founded the amateur dramatic group and also a dance group to provide more club activities for young people. The artistic manager was Dr. Wolfram Viehweg, who had recently graduated in theatre studies. Two years later, Alfred Melchior took over as director. From 1974 Dr. Margarete Rehfeld, previously a director and actress at Krefeld’s Stadttheater, took the helm. As a labour union representative she looked after the interests of her fellow theatrical workers for many years. In 1994 she retired to Darmstadt and the Odenwald area from where she originally came, but the amateur dramatic group remained her greatest hobby. Each season she travelled to Uerdingen every weekend between September and December in order to rehearse the new Christmas pantomime with the group. In 2001, she handed over responsibility to Bernd Hoffmann, likewise an actor at the Vereinigte Städtische Bühnen Krefeld & Mönchengladbach. Since then, choreographer Frank Croszey and musician Jochen Kilian have also been assisting the actors with their dance routines.

Something special

The actors also work hard behind the scenes. They make the set, costumes and props almost entirely by themselves.

Contact and information

Dr. Stefan Sturm

stefan.sturm@currenta.de

You will find further details about the group and dates here: http://www.laienspielgruppe-bayer.de/

The group is responsible for the content of the site to which the link refers.