Ich, Ikarus

Lying on the seabed, Icarus reflects on his story. He relives it over and over again. Sometimes he describes his own future, sometimes his past, sometimes he is thrust into his present. He relates his captivity on Crete, speaks about wanting to leave but not being able to, about his dream of freedom, and his father’s invention of wings made of feathers and beeswax, and his words of warning: „Do not fly too high, nor too low. Always stay in the middle.“

ICH, IKARUS (I, ICARUS) by Oliver Schmaering was awarded the Mülheimer KinderStückePreis in 2019. It reinterprets the ancient Greek myth and explores the will to be free: from escaping captivity, to leaving the midfield and striving for what is one’s own, going all out.