Shockheaded Peter

This musical play by the cult London group The Tiger Lillies is an adaptation of the world renowned children’s picture book Shockheaded Peter (Struwwelpeter, 1845) by the German psychiatrist, poet and writer Heinrich Hoffmann. The “junk-opera”, as the authors themselves called it, was first shown in London in 1998, followed by stagings all over the world, from Broadway to the Burgtheater in Vienna. It also won a number of awards, including the most important one, the Olivier Award for Best Entertainment (2002).
Hoffmann’s Shockheaded Peter includes different stories written in the time of the so called dark romanticism. Bizarre stories speak about children’s bad behaviour and its potential dangerous consequences. A child who won’t eat keeps losing weight until he dies; another one who doesn’t watch his steps, falls into the water and nearly drowns; a girl who plays with forbidden matches burns ... In the stories, fear is a tool to teach children good behaviour and obedience. Regardless of the dubious legacy of such poisonous pedagogy the work is considered one of the most successful children’s books; its motifs have been used in literature, film and television. Mark Twain translated it into English, and recently the American series Family Guy parodied its episodes.
This unusual play, intended for adults and young adults, enthrals with the grotesque-morbid intensification of well-known stories and dark humour.