On 12th June 2025, the puppet theatre play ‘Matou – Die Katze, die kein Mensch will sein will’ (Matou – The cat that doesn’t want to be human), directed by Hans-Jochen Menzel, will celebrate its German premiere at the Schaubude Berlin. Based on the novel by Austrian author Michael Köhlmeier, an ensemble of experienced puppeteers brings a polyphonic stage epic about an unusual cat to the stage.
Fig. above: © Anna Menzel
What if a cat could be present in people’s most intimate conversations, understand their language and even speak? The Austrian author Michael Köhlmeier has played this out in his novel Matou. In June, the story of Matou the cat, who travels through world history, can be experienced for the first time as puppet theatre on the stage of the Schaubude Berlin. Under the direction of Hans-Jochen Menzel, the ensemble led by Anna Menzel, Pierre Schäfer and Veronika Thieme will present a cheerful and philosophical evening, carried by a large puppet ensemble and an extremely unconventional cat.
With seven lives, Matou the cat wanders through the centuries: from the French Revolution to the present day, she meets Camille Desmoulins, E.T.A. Hoffmann and Andy Warhol. She introduces a dictatorship on the island of Hydra – and a mouse farm. She is also there when the revolution ends at the guillotine or the First World War breaks out. In her seventh and final life, Matou reads from her memoirs and reveals surprising insights and thoughts: her view of humanity is both critical and casually amused. Although she wants to understand what ‘a human being’ is, she definitely does not want to be or become one.
“… an evening full of poetic power, narrative finesse and technical precision. The author had given the ensemble a free hand in the realisation of his novel, resulting in a stage work that comes close to the literary original in its depth and polyphony and yet is theatre in its own right: charming, funny, touching. […] What remains at the end is the impression of an evening of puppetry with high creative quality and the realisation that a talking cat who doesn’t want to be human can say more about the state of being human as a character on stage than many anthropocentrically narrated plays.” (Andreas Marte, Vorarlberger Nachrichten)
THE PARTICIPATING
Prof. HANS- JOCHEN MENZEL (director)
Hans-Jochen Menzel, puppeteer, author, director and lecturer, studied puppetry at the HfS Ernst Busch Berlin in 1978. After completing his studies, he joined the state puppet theatre in Neubrandenburg in 1981. He has worked as a freelancer since 1985, including as a guest at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, the Maxim Gorki Theatre in Berlin and the Schauspiel Frankfurt. He has also worked on his own projects, commissions and workshops in German-speaking countries, e.g. at the Salzburg Festival.
From 2003 to 2013, he was head of the puppetry department at the HfS Ernst Busch Berlin and worked there as a lecturer until 2022.
PIERRE SCHÄFER (puppet theatre)
Pierre Schäfer studied from 1986 to 1990 at the HfS Ernst Busch, Department of Puppetry. He is a co-founder of the Handgemenge theatre and has been working as a freelance puppeteer, director and playwright both nationally and internationally since 1990. Since 2010, he has been producing plays for young audiences and adults with Veronika Thieme under the name Schäfer-Thieme Productions. Since 1997 he has worked as a guest lecturer at the HfS Ernst Busch Berlin, majoring in puppetry. From 2008 to 2018, he was Artistic Director of the Homunculus Festival in Austria.
VERONIKA THIEME (puppet theatre)
Studied puppetry at the HfS Ernst Busch Berlin from 2004 to 2008, graduating with a diploma. Since then she has worked as a freelance actress and puppeteer in Germany and Europe in collaboration with, among others: Jochen Menzel, Pierre Schäfer, Suse Wächter, Michael Vogel/Familie Flöz, Christian Weise, Martin G. Berger, as well as at institutions such as Deutsches Theater Berlin, Schauspielhaus Hamburg, Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar, Kampnagel Hamburg, Ballhaus Ost Berlin, FFT Düsseldorf, Theater/Oper Dortmund, Schaubude Berlin, Theater Freiburg, Kurt Weill Fest Dessau, Puppentheater Halle, Puppentheater Magdeburg. Since 2015 she has worked as a guest lecturer at the HfSErnst Busch Berlin, Contemporary Puppetry.PIERRE SCHÄFER (Puppetry)
ANNA CHARLOTTE MENZEL (puppet theatre)
Studied puppetry at the HfS Ernst Busch Berlin from 2005 to 2009. In 2009, she founded the theatre company Lovefuckers with Ivana Sajević. From 2013 to 2016, she was a member of the ensemble at the Theater Junge Generation Dresden. Since 2017, she has worked as a freelance puppeteer, as a guest lecturer at the HfS Ernst Busch and in the ZDF/Kika TV format Rudis Rasselbande.
Puppet theatre based on a novel by Michael Köhlmeier, in German spoken language, 140 minutes (including intermission)
WHEN?
Opening: Thursday, 12th June 2025, 8 pm
Performance dates: Thursday, 12th June – Monday, 16th June 2026
WHERE?
Schaubude Berlin
Greifswalder Straße 81—84
10405 Berlin
COST?
solidarity 25 EUR, regular 18 EUR, reduced 12 EUR
