It's 1918. The Habsburg empire broke into pieces and the Sudeten Germans found themselves in a situation they didn't want to be in. The land they lived in for hundreds of years is now called Czechoslovakia. Who is going to save the sacred homeland? A charismatic man with a romantic streak Heinz Rutha has a plan to train the most beautiful and athletic boys who would become an elite of the future Sudeten German state. The well meant mission, fueled by surpressed samesex desires will later result in the biggest homosexual scandal in interwar Czechoslovakia. 

The life and times of Sudeten German nationalist Heinz Rutha is the starting point for the witty scenic composition Wandervogel. Authentic police protocols, intimate war diary, historic political speeches are mixed with the present-day experiences of the performers thus creating an unexpected link between Rutha´s struggle and the current political turmoil. With powerful visual imagery based on the uncompromising physical presence of the cast the audience is invited for a quest for contemporary meanings of the concepts on which Heinz Rutha built his vision of an ideal community. What does sexuality, the nation, fascism, nature, beauty mean today?

premiere: November 28, 2024.

Concept, scenography, directing: Jan Mocek
Created with, performed by: Tomáš Janypka, Philipp Schenker, Matěj Šumbera, Arseniy Mikhaylov, Václav Němec
Music: Matouš Hekela
Lighting, sound: Ondřej Růžička
Production: Táňa Švehlová, SixHouses z.s.
Artistic advice: Sodja Lotker
Choreography advice: Jaro Viňarský
Photos: Adéla Vosičková
Special thanks: Mark Cornwall, Jan Hofman, Lucia Škandíková

With support from / acknowledgments: Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic, the City of Prague, Prague 7 Municipal District, State Fund for Culture, Czech-German Future Fund, SixHouses z.s.

Produced collaboration with the Masaryk Institute and the Archive of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Academia Publishing House, and the Prague German Language Theatre Festival.