Andri Beyeler: Rosemary the Cow
A travelling – mobile – performance for children from 7 to 14 years of age

Venues:     
Stara steklarska Ptuj
the mali oder stage, GOML (Theatre for Children and Youth, Ljubljana; formerly Španski borci Moste)
and guest appearances

The text is a hit in the theatres of German speaking European countries.
 In the season 2005/06, "Rosemary the Cow" was staged 26 times in different theatres, thus being among the most frequently staged children's performances in the German space... (Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung). Currently it is shown in more than 40 theatres around the world.

In recent years, the author of the text Andri Beyeler received important acknowledgements and awards for his children's texts. For Rosemary the Cow he received the Brothers Grimm Award (Brueder Grimm Preis) of the State of Berlin in 2005. He was nominated for the Koelner Theater Preis Award, and in 2004 he received the highest German acknowledgement for children's authors, the Deutschen Jugendtheaterpreis. In 2006 he received the Foerderpreis of the canton of Berne.

This simple story with exciting dialogues and numerous humorous situations is a poetic satire about tolerance and intolerance, diversity and, last but not least, multiculturalism. With surprising twists and turns as well as poetical language, this performance is animal fun as it discusses being different and the courage of remaining true to oneself and accepted along with all one's weaknesses and flaws. With snappy changes in narration and acting it stimulates the imagination of children and adults alike, encouraging them to take part in the action, filling them with enthusiasm and entertaining them.

The author deals with topics like conformation because of the need to be loved, dominance of others, and the feelings of powerlessness in such a manner as to give us the courage to be what we are. Namely, things are just as they are: the cow nags, the chicken cackles... But, nevertheless, they can all live together in peace if they respect each other... (Esslinger Zeitung).

The text allows for the director and actors onstage to stimulate the imagination with language, gestures and facial expressions, with few props and without any decoration. Playful wording, twists and changes of the rhythm and roles enable the actors to create a top notch performance. This is also made possible by a superb translation into Slovenian by Vanda Vremšak Richter.

Numerous theatre pedagogues all around the world consider this text and its stagings among the very best artistic achievements of children's theatre.  Besides European theatres it is also performed in the United States and Japan.
The university professor and pedagogue dr. Wolfgang Schneider, president of the ASSITEJ world organisation in the frame of UNESCO, sees this as one of the finest texts written in the last decade. During his lecture in Ljubljana he recommended that it also be staged in Slovenia.