I like standing here, this is my favorite place. The tortoise thinks to itself and sniffs a flower. But what if an armadillo appears, has a bad feeling about this spot and would rather stand somewhere else? Do you then leave the place you have grown to love? Or do you stay, whatever the cost? Or do you meet in the middle, which neither of you know?
Illustrator and author Jon Klassen is a master of linguistic reduction. With few words and large-scale images, he develops small universes that nevertheless explore big themes and feelings. His worlds are almost always inhabited by animals, or more precisely: animals with hats.
His picture book "Out of the Blue" (in the original: "The Rock from the Sky") is about the search for the right place, also in life, about friendship and fate: the armadillo has barely lured the tortoise away from its favorite spot when a rock falls from the sky right there. There is not much talk about this, just as there is little talk at all, not even with the snake that joins them. But there are plenty of stories between the lines, full of longing, uncertainty and hope.
Patricija Katica Bronić has developed a playful adaptation of the picture book for the stage for her first directorial work at JES.