It is no different here than it often is when children and young people and their “issues” such as bullying, sexuality, social media use and educational misery are discussed: the people actually affected rarely have their say, instead it is experts from various disciplines who speak about them. And yet here, in the rehearsal room of the Sarre Music Academy in the Fat Cat, everything is significantly different: because all the roles, including those of the adults, in the musical “Really?! – Germany’s first “Gen Z” musical talk show” ,are embodied by the young academics themselves.
They are currently storming onto the stage from two sides, pushing the talk show participants out of their seats, calling for a “children’s revolution”. Because, as newspaper articles from the South German Newspaper or the Mirror prove: “Teachers’ association has had enough of applause politics”, “That’s why thousands of students, parents and teachers are taking to the streets today” are the titles projected onto the screen in the background. In front of it, the young actors are now throwing stacks of paper into the air, protesting by singing and dancing to the song “Revolting Children” (from the musical “Matilda”) against the latest imposition, “the abolition of creative subjects in schools”, says academy director Verena Sarré during the break.
The musical production will premiere on June 8th in the Old Congress Hall. The focus will be on the topics that the 80 academics, aged between eight and mid-twenties, who will appear in two ensembles with 40 participants each, have wanted to address, as Sarré explains: starting with the increasingly early bullying among peers, the social discourse on feminism, gender, exclusion and discrimination of minorities fueled by social media, seduction through populist swindling, and the psychological consequences for individuals. The text contributions come from the participants themselves, says Sarré.
One of the older academics, dressed as a populist named Ben, demonstrates what this can look like with a group of rebellious children. “I’m on your side, of course,” he announces. Then he asks: “Aren’t there special children among you?” The people he addresses look at each other, perplexed. “Those who don’t understand so much, who come from somewhere else. Wouldn’t this be a better school if these children weren’t there?” he asks. A student comes up to him. “Don’t believe this Ben!” she calls out. “Do you realize what he’s trying to do to you?”
And then the stage background changes, the portrait of the Jewish composer Ilse Weber appears on the screen, next to the barbed wire fence of the Theresienstadt concentration camp in 1943. The children’s choir sings the song “For everything will be fine”, composed by the young Ilse Weber, who died with the children entrusted to her. “Only her husband survived, he also saved her songs from Theresienstadt,” says Sarré. For her, it is “a treasure trove of incredibly beautiful, positive songs.”
The scene changes, now a student is sitting embarrassed in her school principal’s office. She wants to know from the young woman whether her esteemed colleague Mr. Zimmermann really sexually harassed her. The policeman also has his doubts. Could she name any witnesses to the incident? And what was she wearing that day? Oh dear – if her top really was midriff-baring, that explains a lot. The student falls silent and finally sits depressed – “is it my fault?” – in front of a doctor. The doctor prescribes her a medication in a good mood, with the help of which she will “definitely feel well again in two weeks”.
Fortunately, the young talents of the Sarré Academy have found other ways to express their feelings and thoughts. We can look forward to the premiere.
Really?! – Germany’s first “Gen Z” musical talk show, 8 and 9 June, Alte Kongresshalle, Bavariapark 14