A man with a black tie. What does he have in mind?, the audience,
present at the 'Triangle' performance of "Hippo - Hippopotamus"
in the cellar stage, asks themselves. Does he want to give a lecture? For
the present the tie-man doesn't say anything. He moves behind the curtain
and starts a tape reorder. Grunting sounds. He comes back carrying a taburet,
a lettuce, the tape recorder, a key, a jug and a towel. The grunting sound
slosh slowly from the tape into his throat. The hippopotamus! There he sits
and talks about the wide river valley, about sunny days and splashes with
his feet in the broad lethargic river bowl. He is quite satisfied with his
life, up until one day when a proud slim race horse rides along the beach.
Being different
Dozing, chewing, eating are over now. "Who is the hippo?" both nag
one another. The hippopotamus shows off his paunch and stumpy tail proudly.
Everything there for swimming. For swimming? Unsuitable for a real hippo. Because
one needs slim pasterns for dancing, the race horse counters. For dancing? After
the argument envy grows and the pitiful attempts to be like the other. The colossus
begins to starve himself, the elegant race horse develops a paunch and because
of this saves the skinny drowning hippopotamus. Sense and friendship begin.
Senses
Hubert Fehrenbacher from the Freiburg Theater im Marienbad is a hippopotamus,
racing horse and narrator. Using the simplest means he projects urgent pictures,
which find a direct way into the emotional world of children. Full of humor
and with soft facial expressions he plays the different steps of social contact.
Children (as well as adults) discover themselves, notice differences, they can
feel jealousy and the desperate wish to become like the other. Which normally
is never successful, neither with hippos nor with human beings. An actor as
a picture book - only more beautiful.