The Robber Hotzenplotz by Otfried Preußler, first published in 1962, is one of the classics of German-language children's literature. For decades, the story, with its characteristic characters taken from the traditional Punch and Judy show, has transported children and adults into an imaginative world in which friendship and solidarity triumph over evil. An imaginative escape quest for the whole family.
The robber Hotzenplotz has stolen Kasperl's grandmother's coffee grinder. This is a birthday present from Kasperl and his friend Seppel. It can also play Grandma's favorite song "Alles neu macht der Mai". While Constable Dimpfelmoser hesitates, Kasperl and Seppel set off to find Hotzenplotz's robbers' den and get the coffee grinder back. To avoid being recognized, they swap their headgear. But the robber Hotzenplotz manages to capture Kasperl and Seppel. Hotzenplotz sells Kasperl to the evil magician Petrosilius Zwackelmann, who needs a servant to peel potatoes, believing that he is Seppel. As the magician's castle is under a spell, Kasperl is initially unable to escape.
While secretly wandering around the castle, he comes across a toad in the cellar vaults, which reveals itself to him as the enchanted fairy Amaryllis. The toad knows how he can get around the spell on the castle and asks him to get some fairy herb so that he can release her from her evil spell. Kasperl sets off to help the enchanted fairy. Will he and Seppel succeed in freeing the fairy, putting a stop to the evil sorcerer, delivering the robber Hotzenplotz to Constable Dimpfelmoser and returning Grandmother's beloved coffee grinder?
Premiere November 21, 2025
Further performances: December 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 22, 23, 24 and 27, December 2025, January 6 and 25, February 22, 2026
