À la Baroque: Dream tapestry - a Palace Fairy Tale
When the director Bernard Cauchard saw the costumes and wallpapers in the exhibition Rokokomania at Drottningholm Palace Theatre in 2024, he was inspired to create the production Dream tapestry – a Palace Fairy Tale. What do the old wallpapers in the theatre house have to tell? In various tableaux, the tapestries come to life and are portrayed in music, song and dance, but no words. A fairy tale where the wallpaper brings memories and dreams to life. The children get an experience to interpret themselves!
Fanciful creations
The costumes worn by the performers are imaginative creations of characters we could meet at Gustav III’s theatre. Here we meet the Director who plays with his puppets in a dress with patterns from the theatre’s curtain, the Prima Donna who has her own dressing room with the most beautiful wallpaper, Harlequin and Harlequinina who are the most well-known theatre characters and The Time with a dress that is partially faded, just like the old 18th century wallpaper.
Music and movement at the highest level
The show will be performed for children aged 6-10 in the Déjeuner Salon at Drottningholm Palace Theatre in September 2025. The children will be treated to music and movement at the highest level. The performance features Karolina Blixt, mezzo-soprano, Carl Ackerfeldt, baritone, Matilda Larsson, dancer, Jens Rosén, dancer, Elin Gabrielsson, violin, Mime Brinkmann, cello and viola da gamba, and Mariangiola Martello, harpsichord. The music is composed by Baroque masters G F Händel, M Marais and J-P Rameau.
À la Baroque – productions for children supported by Signatur
The World Heritage-listed theatre wants to share culture with children through an inclusive cutting-edge project and a performance created from the children’s perspective. Before the performance, the children will enter the unique theatre salon as an introduction to the magical world of fairy tales. They are then introduced to music and dance they never knew existed.
This is the third children’s production that Drottningholm Palace Theatre has created with support from Signatur following Hum, hum Hume in 2023 and A Wild Tempest in my Heart in 2024.
The original title of the Signatur Project, À la Baroque, is a collective name for the children’s productions at Drottningholm Palace Theatre.
Project activities and expectations
Drottningholm Palace Theatre caters to schools throughout the Stockholm area. The theatre has a friend school, Fryshuset Grundskola Akalla, which will provide a test audience. Connecting with teachers and schools is important to reach children who do not have relatives to take them to cultural events. The theatre produces a teacher’s guide to help the children prepare and to encourage continued work after the performance, and a playlist encourages further listening. Twelve performances are given as school shows and eight for families.
In this year’s production, three of the performances are for children with special needs, who require extra time and space. Then the size of the audience is halved (45 instead of 90) and the cast are prepared to be even more open to reactions and questions.
The theatre strives to maintain the highest artistic standards in its productions. Artists and musicians are at the absolute top level, there is great knowledge of theatre and costume history and high standards in all the work surrounding a production.
The expected result is that the children take possession of the theatre building and feel welcome, that the music, song, dance and magic belong to them. And that the imagination and music continue to entice them in their future lives.
ABOUT THE FOUNDATION DROTTNINGHOLMS SLOTTSTEATER
Drottningholm Palace Theatre is a unique theatre building from 1766 and part of the Drottningholm World Heritage Site. The building was commissioned by Queen Lovisa Ulrika and was used extensively by the King Gustav III. It is the only venue in the world with an 18th century theatre stage still using its original wooden stage machinery operated by hand.
The theatre welcomes visitors from all over the world, and during the summer months the building is busy with opera performances, concerts, children’s activities, guided tours and exhibitions. Drottningholms Slottsteater receives an annual operating grant from the Swedish Ministry of Culture, which partly covers the costs of carrying out one yearly opera production and the theatre’s exhibition work. To make this World Heritage accessible to wider audiences, the theatre’s ambition is to also offer performances aimed at young audiences. This requires support from external funders, such as Signatur Foundation Sweden.
Read more about Drottningholms Slottsteater on the website www.dtm.se.
