A Festival of Joy
The fall of the Berlin wall on 9th November 1989 was a significant event in world history and for the Germans above all it was a day of joy. A joy which was unexpected though long desired and painfully won. These powerful emotions are still quite evident when one looks again at the film of the events that evening in the Bornholmer Straße, when the sheer pressure of people forced the wall to be opened. Those people’s faces reflect their thirst for freedom and a self-governed life, their hopes of being together with family or friends or their yearning to travel to countries hitherto beyond their reach. On the other side of the wall the surprise was just great as they were greeted with spontaneous warmth and offers of help. These were moments of incomprehensible happiness, unclouded by the worries and considerable hard work which would accompany them on the journey to complete unification.
This day of joy is what the French street theatre company Royal de Luxe seek to remind us of with their spectacular work »The Giants are Coming«. Their exaggerated fairy tale with giant marionettes who are reunited at the Brandenburg Gate after years of separation reminds us of the »fairy tale« which came true in those days. This theatre production in the streets for four days around the Day of German Unity is a gift from the federally funded Berliner Festspiele to the people of Berlin and their many guests. I warmly thank all the partners and supporters who have made this event in Berlin possible.
Let yourselves be captivated by the giants’ charm and the company’s sublime technical skill and let us all celebrate together with these giants from France a festival of joy.
Bernd Neumann
Minister of State to the Federal Chancellor
Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media
June 2009
