Dream of The Primeval Forest

Felix Salten's book “Bambi, a Forest Tale”, written in 1923, was the inspiration for the play “Dream of The Primeval Forest”. Salten was an Austro-Hungarian writer of Jewish origin who lived in Vienna. The motif of killing and fear is a clear element of the story from which it can be inferred that the book was strongly inspired by the deteriorating political situation, growing anti-Semitism and war. In 1935, “Bambi, a Forest Tale” was on the list of literary works banned by the Nazis. From today's perspective, this fact reinforces the political allegory presented by the oppression of the natural world and defenceless animals.

We kill animals in the belief that they have no right to their own lives and do not feel suffering, forgetting that we ourselves are part of the animal kingdom. Today, hunting wild animals is very often a hobby of people who legally commit injustice. We agree with this, although deep down we feel that killing (animals) is not moral and that by killing we transgress basic ethical principles. If we are willing to see the world as alive, interconnected and interdependent, we will find ourselves in the middle of the world we dream of. All we have to do is wake up from our egocentric dream and stop identifying with an illusory sense of separation from the rest of the world.

This is the only way.

Author: Felix Salten, Joanna Maria Gierdal
Direction, translation, script and dramaturgy: Joanna Maria Gierdal
Stage, puppets, costumes and lighting: Laura Černáková
Cast: Ondrej Gajdoš, Mário Houdek, Ivana Lechmanová, Dávid Selecký, Naďa Balacenková