It's 1918. The Habsburg Empire has broken into pieces and the Sudeten Germans find themselves in a lamentable situation. The land they had lived on for centuries is now called Czechoslovakia. Who is going to save the sacred homeland? Heinz Rutha, a charismatic man with a romantic streak has a plan: to train the most beautiful and athletic boys who will become the elite of the future Sudeten German state. The well-intended mission, fuelled by suppressed same-sex desires, will bring forth the biggest homosexual scandal of the interwar Czechoslovakia. 

The life and the era of the Sudeten German nationalist Heinz Rutha is the starting point for the witty scenic composition Wandervogel. Authentic police protocols, an intimate war diary, and historical political speeches mix with the present-day experience of the performers, building up an unexpected link between Rutha´s struggle and the current political turmoil. Through powerful visual imagery, anchored in the uncompromising physical presence of the cast, the audience is invited to explore contemporary meanings behind the concepts devised by Rutha in his vision of the ideal community. What do the terms sexuality, nation, fascism, nature, and beauty mean today?

The performance is inspired by Mark Cornwall's book The Devil's Wall. 

"Sexuality, body, state, nationalism, youth... Is it even possible to fit all into one night and not end up with cheesiness? Director Jan Mocek proves it is. Balancing on the edge of drama and physical theatre, he serves the audience a substantial piece, novel in format, in which the fate of the Sudeten German politician and youth leader Heinz Rutha comes to life, and with him a multitude of uneasy topics."

Lucie Kocourková, Theatre Journal