Regenbogenland-Theatre 2010

“The idea of doing drama together is still very fresh,” says Knud Johannsen, “and whether what we have in mind will work out, it’s too early to say. What is not in doubt is the desire to become involved and our own enthusiasm.” Johannsen is an employee of RWE Power and co-initiator of the Regenbogenland-Theater 2010 project, which has won the support of RWE Companius.

Regenbogenland – Rainbowland – is the name of a children’s hospice in Düsseldorf which cares for terminally ill children as well as supporting their families and helping them to cope with their grief. The first Saturday of every month is Siblings’ Day at Regenbogenland, the day when the focus is not on the sick children themselves, but on their brothers and sisters. With the backing of RWE Companius, four volunteers from the RWE Group will be providing hands-on support for this regular event in future.

And they have other plans up their sleeves, as well, namely a theatre project for the same group of people. “The brothers and sisters often have to go without the attention they need simply because their parents have too many other things to worry about,” says Johannsen, explaining the thinking behind the project.

The theatre project kicked off with a visit to the Aalto Theater in Essen. After an exciting and extensive tour of the theatre, the six children in the group and four RWE employees accompanying them were given a chance to enjoy a few moments in the limelight themselves. After slipping into real theatre costumes, they were allowed to practice a scene from Weber’s opera Der Freischütz on the rehearsal stage. The division of labour was just as it would be in a real theatre production. There were actors, stagehands, lighting technicians and a director. “We had terrific fun together and learned a whole lot, too,” the four enthusiastic Companius members said.

If everything goes as RWE employees Anne Braun and Knud Johannsen wish, then what follows will be a whole play, to be produced and acted with the sick children’s siblings in the course of 2010. Before that happens, however, the group intends to visit the World Children’s Theatre Festival 2010 in Lingen, an event supported by RWE. “Whether we as amateurs can keep the kids motivated long enough to produce a whole play is not yet clear,” says Johannsen, “but I’ve every confidence that we’ll succeed.”