The Fabulous Baron

About

In the near future, somewhere in the middle of Europe, there is a land where not only lies, but all things imagined are forbidden under strict penalty, including fables and imagination. Because they challenge the given, measurable facts verifiable by reason, undermine the ruling power and, in an apparent paradox, point too clearly to the very essence of things, the truth. Such audacity must be punished.

And still, in this land was born a boy whom history would know as the Fabulous Baron; to this land he has returned from his long travels, and here he opens a trunk full of books where writes about his adventures. Though – or perhaps thanks to – not uttering a word, he narrates his stories and fables in evocative images, whether he dances the tango with an angry bull, rescues a flying ray from intrusive fishermen, sails alone the unfathomable ocean depths, or engages in a silent dialogue with his loyal friend the raven. 

The Baron’s captivating stories catch the attention of a little girl, who seems to understand him far better than adults. Few accept the Baron and appreciate their friendship. To make matters worse, the girl’s mother, worried, brings the Baron to court. He is called to defend his stories and prove their accuracy before a strict chamber where the mother sits as a judge. But how can one defend their case before a court unwilling to listen? And how is fantasy to be judged in the first place? 

The production by Miřenka Čechová and Petr Boháč follows from the adventures of Baron Munchausen, as captured by Gottfried August Bürger in his book-turned-classic. Yet the creators have conceived their own, distinctive variation, where animals are not treated as hunting trophies, but rather as partners to humans, to whom they reveal the true order: the order of nature. Imagination is presented as an element that shapes the individual’s identity and helps them to revise their perception of the world, perhaps even as a self-preservation tool, and in particular as a fundamental expression of freedom and empathy. All essential actions happen far beyond words. 

The multimedia production combines film projections with a comic and large-scale realistic puppets. Live music and live drawing during the performance enrich the diverse artistic form.