Author of dramatization and director: Jaka Andrej Vojevec
Dramaturge: Tatjana Doma
Set designer: Branko Hojnik
Costume designer: Jelena Proković
Music by: Rok Golob
Author of video animations: Zoran Arizanović
Cast: Nina Rakovec, Blaž Setnikar, Rastko Krošl, Manca Ogorevc, Minca Lorenci, Igor Žužek, Anica Kumer (guest appearance), David Čeh, Igor Sancin, Zvone Agrež, Mario Šelih, Bojan Umek
German writer and screenwriter Erich Kästner (1899–1974) is the author of numerous youth literature bestsellers and one of the most famous 20th century German authors of youth literature. In 1961, Kästner was nominated for the Nobel Literature Prize. Kästner wrote the novel Anna Louise and Anton (1931) two years after his first and most famous children’s novel, the famous Emil and the Detectives. Kästner’s youth novels are filled with his patented social optimism, stemming from his beliefs that each new generation can change the world. The author once said that Anna Louise and Anton is a most peculiar story; primarily because it is peculiar but also, because it really happened. The main protagonists are Anna Louise, the daughter of a rich plant director, and Anton, the only child of a sickly single mother. Anna Louise has too much of everything, yet never enough love, whereas Anton is forced to grow up quickly, having to provide for his sick mother, yet, despite the financial hardships, his home is always full of love and affection. Anna Louise and Anton quickly become as thick as thieves without paying attention to their different social backgrounds, knowing full well that life is easier and more fun as a couple. Even after eighty years Kästner’s novel is still topical and on-point: parents still don’t have enough time for their children or simply can’t be bothered to spend time with them; evil people take the fastest and most unfair road to becoming rich by exploiting children, and numerous children have no choice but to grow up fast in order to provide for their parents.
(Source: Slovene National Theatre Celje)