A Christmas Fairy Tale Based on the Story by Georgette Leblanc and Maurice Maeterlinck | Adapted by Anna Langhoff | For ages 6 and up
“As you search for the Blue Bird, dear children, don’t forget that all the gray-feathered birds you meet along the way are no less endearing.”
The Light in *The Blue Bird*
Inspired by the symbolist fairy tale *The Blue Bird* by Belgian Nobel Prize-winning author Maurice Maeterlinck, this season’s Christmas fairy tale tells the story of the adventure of togetherness. It is the evening before Christmas. A fairy, searching for a Blue Bird to cheer up her sad little daughter, appears to the siblings Mytyl and Tyltyl. Although she does not find what she is looking for with them, she encourages the children to see with their hearts and entrusts them with the magical diamond of hidden truth. Then she waves her magic wand, and off the three of them go—accompanied by a cat, a dog, fire, and water—into the unknown to catch the wondrous bird. The journey takes them into the world of the invisible, where the merry band traverses the Land of Memory, the Realm of the Future, and the Forest of Talking Trees and Animals. There’s no doubt that there are mysterious things to experience everywhere along the way. Yet they never encounter the Blue Bird anywhere. Filled with new experiences, the sister and brother finally return home. And right there, the coveted good-luck charm awaits: an unassuming dove whose plumage glows a brilliant blue as the children come to realize the value of friendship and compassion, while outside the snow falls and Christmas—when perhaps it was all just a dream—is sure to begin any moment now.
Director Patricija Katica Bronić studied theater and media at the University of Bayreuth and the Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. She develops her works for both young audiences and adults, both in the independent theater scene and at municipal theaters, most recently at Theater Basel, the German National Theater in Weimar, the Young National Theater in Mannheim, and the Young Ensemble Stuttgart, among others. For her evocative visual language and emotionally sensitive storytelling, she was awarded the Baden-Württemberg Art Foundation’s grant for the performing arts in 2022 and nominated for the German Theater Prize DER FAUST in 2023 in the category of productions for young audiences.
