(Kopie 1)
Telling a story with sand – this is something the Sandtheater Leipzig masters wonderfully, and it did so on 14 September 2020 in front of the St. Georg Children’s Hospital. The result was an exciting journey through Leipzig’s history with a particularly intense focus on the autumn of ’89 – and a loving final image showing the venue and the audience – the children’s hospital and its patients.
The performance was accompanied live by theatre musician Annegret Enderle, who excelled at underscoring the images created by sand artist Alla Denisova on the screen with her violin. She was also the one who opened the evening and, with her music, enticed the young patients onto the balconies decorated with many candles. Original sound recordings from ’89 – including the “Freedom, Freedom” chants of the demonstrators – added a powerful impression of the atmosphere on the streets at the time.
For the second preview event on the way to the Leipzig Festival of Lights, contemporary witness Brigitte Moritz was a guest. A child-friendly dialogue unfolded, giving the young audience an impression of the events of the autumn of ’89 and the moving Monday 31 years earlier: “On 9ᵗʰ of October we were afraid that the police might shoot. More and more people were gathering; the entire Augustusplatz was full. Some began to shout ‘We are the people’ and ‘No violence’. Everything was meant to remain peaceful. When we walked around the ring, we knew we had made it. Now everything could change.”
In answering the question of what the events of that time mean today, Brigitte Moritz addressed the children and young people directly with an urgent appeal: “You too, whether as adults or even today, will not always be satisfied with everything and will find things wrong. Then you should speak your mind, look for friends and allies, and go out and demonstrate. Back then it was forbidden. But you have this freedom. Use it and defend it!”
After the official end of the event, Alla Denisova took the time to show the children how they could create images from grains of sand in a special light sandpit prepared just for them.
