Going to the theatre with school: Together with pupils, teachers and a wide range of formats, we open the doors of the theatre to attend selected performances and take a look behind the scenes. In theme-based workshops, preparations and follow-up discussions, we work with pupils and teachers to find and create connections between the stage, school and everyday life.
We look forward to exploring and questioning the possibilities of theatre with you and your students, and falling in love with it all over again!
Contact
SCHULBEAUFTRAGTE
Antonia Andreae
antonia.andreae@schauspielhaus.ch
+41 44 258 75 18
Teachers
Let's meet!
The Junges Schauspielhaus team, together with the dramaturgy team and co-artistic director Rafael Sanchez, welcomes you to a program presentation with an apéro at the Schiffbau-Matchbox on August 25th at 6:00 PM. We will be happy to advise you personally on finding the right play for your class, and we look forward to exchanging ideas with you.
Please register by August 19th at: antonia.andreae@schauspielhaus.ch
Pedagogy Club
The club for teachers who love theatre
Instead of going to the theatre with students, go with fellow teachers: as part of the Education Club, you will watch plays and then discuss them with other theatre-loving teachers and production staff. We look forward to exploring the diverse programme of the Schauspielhaus Zürich with you on three to four evenings per season and engaging in conversation with you.
You will receive all information about the plays and dates after registering at: antonia.andreae@schauspielhaus.ch
School classes
Recommended pieces
DIE MAUSEFALLE
by Agatha Christie
translated from the English by Horst Willems
DIRECTED BY: Rafael Sanchez
SCHIFFBAU HALLE
FOR SCHOOL CLASSES AGED 14 AND OVER
about the play
The newly opened guesthouse at the historic Monkswell Manor is cut off from the outside world by a fierce snowstorm. The guests – a motley crew of characters from the British upper and middle classes of the 1950s – find themselves trapped in a confined space. Then a detective appears at the door on skis, bearing a warning: the guests are in mortal danger. Suspicion spreads, and dark secrets emerge from behind polite manners, until no one seems innocent anymore...
Agatha Christie’s THE MOUSE TRAP has been running in London’s West End for over seventy years, keeping audiences of all ages guessing. Now, co-artistic director Rafael Sanchez is staging this crime thriller masterpiece at the Schiffbau Halle, with set design by IL GATTOPARDO, with every fifth performance taking place in English – British accents included.
HANS IM GLÜCK
by Till Wiebel
DIRECTED BY: Till Wiebel
SCHIFFBAU MATCHBOX
FOR SCHOOL CLASSES AGED 8 AND OVER
about the play
After seven years at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, Hans quits his job and sets off to find his happiness. As a thank you for his hard work, he receives a large lump of gold that is so heavy he can barely carry it. Before Hans sets off on his way, he performs one very last time in front of an audience of school classes. Packed with brand-new camping gear, wondrous tools, and immense anticipation for his adventure, he enters the classroom.
With HANS IM GLÜCK, author and director Till transforms the classic Grimm fairy tale into a humorous and imaginative one-man show that doesn't hold back when it comes to life's big questions: What things can be valuable, even if they cost very little? What does wealth have to do with the joy of living? And why is who has how much gold actually so unequally distributed?
DIE STAUBSAUGER SCHLAFEN
IM SCHRANK
FOR ANYONE AGED 6+ WHO WOULD LIKE TO JOIN US IN PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF IMAGINATION
by netzwerk wildi blaatere
DIRECTED BY: Johanna Benrath (netzwerk wildi blaatere)
A production by the Junges Schauspielhaus
SCHIFFBAU MATCHBOX
FOR SCHOOL CLASSES AGED 6 AND OVER
about the play
Imagine if everything you were told actually came true: TV would give you square eyes, spinach would give you superpowers, and whenever an adult said, “I’ll be right there”, they really would be right there. Sounds like a dream world? In this play, it just might become reality...
On stage, a quick-witted magical creature meets a typically grown-up human. One of them would love nothing more than to invent fantastic stories but isn’t allowed to, while for the other, even the tiniest untruth makes their whole world start to wobble. Together, they explore the question: Are small, loving lies sometimes better than the complicated, painful truth?
DIE KLEINE MEERJUNGFRAU
A FLUID FAIRY FANTASY
by Bastian Kraft and ensemble
based on Hans Christian Andersen
A co-production with the Thalia Theater Hamburg
DIRECTOR: Bastian Kraft
PFAUEN
FOR SCHOOL CLASSES AGED 8 AND OVER
about the play
Once upon a time, there was a mermaid who fell in love with a human—and wanted to get rid of her fish tail in order to live with him on land. The Little Mermaid tells a story as old as humanity itself: of nymphs, water spirits, and the deep longing for transformation, for liberation from one's assigned role.
On this spectacular evening of theater, fairy tale meets drag, happy ending meets sad ending, and a powerful ensemble meets an audience that can hardly escape the spell of this touching yet brilliant show. Director Bastian Kraft brings Hans Christian Andersen's classic to the stage together with members of the ensemble and stars of the Swiss drag scene—peppered with Disney references and biographical moments from the performers.
HANS SCHLEIF
by Matthias Neukirch and Julian Klein
DIRECTOR: Julian Klein
SCHIFFBAU BOX
FOR SCHOOL CLASSES AGED 16 AND OVER
about the play
Hans Schleif was an architect, archaeologist, family man - and a high-ranking member of the SS. Decades later, his grandson, ensemble member Matthias Neukirch, sets out in search of clues. His research leads him into the contradictory depths of a biography that reveals personal and historical abysses.
The result is an evening that hauntingly interweaves private memory and collective remembrance - between ancient myths, the Holocaust and the German history of perpetrators. History becomes tangible where it otherwise often remains abstract.
DER KLEINE PRINZ
by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
adapted for the stage by Antú Romero Nunes
DIRECTED BY: Antú Romero Nunes
PFAUEN
FOR SCHOOL CLASSES AGED 8 AND OVER
about the play
Asteroid B612 is tiny and just big enough for a sheep, a few baobab trees, and a rose with four thorns. The Little Prince can watch the sun set a whole 43 times a day on his home planet. The Little Prince once fled from the temperamental rose and has been traveling from planet to planet ever since. Most of them are small, and their inhabitants are lonely and peculiar. On Earth alone, he encounters a multitude of living beings: animals, plants, humans. But with every encounter, his longing grows for those he left behind on B612.
Director Antú Romero Nunes, known for his playful theatrical works, turns Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's fantastic tale of connectedness into an interstellar journey for all generations on the Pfauen stage.
DIE LEIDEN DES JUNGEN WERTHER
by Johann Wolfgang Goethe
DIRECTED BY: Pınar Karabulut
PFAUEN
FOR SCHOOL CLASSES AGED 8 AND OVER
about the play
Heartbreak in the 18th century: on his way to a ball, Werther meets Lotte and falls head over heels in love with her. Although Lotte is already ‘as good as engaged’, Werther cannot let her go. He spends every spare moment with her and even befriends her fiancé, Albert. But soon the fragile arrangement begins to unravel, and Werther’s emotional rollercoaster of devotion, jealousy and despair leads to a profound depression.
Goethe’s epistolary novel is regarded as a key work of the Sturm und Drang movement and tells of a sensitive, vulnerable masculinity that is still searching for its place in Western society today. With a new production at the Pfauen, co-artistic director Pınar Karabulut continues her exploration of the great questions of love.
EIN SOMMERNACHTSTRAUM
by William Shakespeare
translated from the English by Angela Schanelec
in collaboration with Jürgen Gosch and Wolfgang Wiens
DIRECTED BY: Pınar Karabulut
PFAUEN
FOR SCHOOL CLASSES AGED 14 AND OVER
about the play
When nature rages, there’s trouble in fairyland: rulers Oberon and Titania are locked in a fierce domestic crisis. Into this chaos stumble four star-crossed lovers and a troupe of rehearsing craftsmen. When the mischievous Puck intervenes with a potent love potion, the forest transforms into a nightmarish blur of desire and confusion.
On the Pfauen stage, Pınar Karabulut directs Shakespeare’s summer tale as a wild ride along the fine line between love and lust, power and submission—outrageous, bold, and delightfully mad.
DREI KAMERADINNEN
by Shida Bazyar
adapted for the stage by Ayşe Güvendiren and Dominika Široká
DIRECTED BY: Ayşe Güvendiren
SCHIFFBAU BOX
FOR SCHOOL CLASSES AGED 8 AND OVER
about the play
Childhood friends Saya, Hani, and Kasih reunite at a wedding, a meeting that exposes their shared reality of systemic racism, sexism, and social exclusion. As right-wing extremism rises and their personal experiences of violence are frequently dismissed, the stakes escalate: after a house is targeted in an arson attack, Saya becomes a suspect. In this struggle for justice, the power to control the narrative becomes the ultimate weapon.
Director Ayşe Güvendiren, known for her documentary work on right-wing terror and memory culture, adapts the novel DREI KAMERADINNEN for the stage. Her production offers a sharp, multi-layered exploration of prejudice, using wit and the profound loyalty of friendship as a powerful counterpoint to hate.
Workshops
To help you prepare for your theatre visit, we offer introductory workshops at the theatre or at your school. The free workshops are based on the artistic concept of the production and address the special features and content of the performance. The same offer is also available for follow-up workshops and post-performance discussions. As preparation or follow-up to the themes and content of the production, the workshops tie in with the different lives of young people.
In addition, we provide you with an educational folder for all plays that we recommend for school classes. In it, you will find further information about the production as well as ideas for independent preparation and follow-up work with your school class after attending the theatre. You will receive the educational folder approximately two weeks before the performance, regardless of whether you have booked a workshop.
Contact: antonia.andreae@schauspielhaus.ch
We offer workshops for these productions:
DIE KLEINE MEERJUNGFRAU
A FLUID FAIRY FANTASY
by Bastian Kraft und Ensemble
basend on a novel by Hans Christian Andersen
A coproduction with Thalia Theater Hamburg
DIRECTED BY: Bastian Kraft
PFAUEN
RERUN: 30.09.2025
RECOMMENDED FOR AGES 14 AND UP
about the play
EIN SOMMERNACHTSTRAUM
by William Shakespeare
translated from the English by Angela Schanelec
in collaboration with Jürgen Gosch and Wolfgang Wiens
DIRECTED BY: Pınar Karabulut
PFAUEN
PREMIERE: 14.03.2026
RECOMMENDED FOR AGES 14 AND UP
about the play
DIE STAUBSAUGER SCHLAFEN
IM SCHRANK
FOR ANYONE AGED 6+ WHO WOULD LIKE TO JOIN US IN PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF IMAGINATION
by netzwerk wildi blaatere
DIRECTED BY: Johanna Benrath (netzwerk wildi blaatere)
A production by the Junges Schauspielhaus
SCHIFFBAU MATCHBOX
WORLD PREMIERE: 10.04.2026
about the play
Partner class
As part of the partner class, pupils have the unique opportunity to explore the similarities and differences between various plays and productions.
As a partner class, you and your pupils will attend two productions during a season. In preparatory and follow-up workshops, the pupils explore in depth what they like about each production and why, thereby discovering their individual theatrical tastes. In the workshops, we also examine how the content of the plays they have seen relates to the realities of the pupils' lives and the society in which they live. Last but not least, the class receives in-depth information about the artistic process – from the idea to the performance.
The partner class is an artistic education format for pupils from the 2nd year of secondary school onwards.
Would you like to become a partner class with your pupils? We look forward to receiving your expression of interest by email to antonia.andreae@schauspielhaus.ch.
Premiere class
How is a play created? What needs to be done to bring it to the stage in front of an audience? And which artistic disciplines work together in theatre?
As part of the premiere class, pupils follow the creative process of a production right up to its premiere. They engage playfully with the themes, content and artistic expression of the production and learn to give constructive feedback as part of an artistic process.
We are happy to tailor the scope of the programme to your individual needs (e.g. two workshops, rehearsal visit, guided tour of the Schiffbau and performance visit). The premiere class is a free educational programme aimed at pupils from the 1st year of primary school onwards.
Would you like to become a premiere class with your pupils? We look forward to receiving your expression of interest by email at antonia.andreae@schauspielhaus.ch.
Guided tours
Where are the stage sets created? Who designs the costumes?
During our guided tours, you will learn little secrets about our stage world and gain an insight into the place where theatre in all its facets is created. There is a bit of history, we look at the stages and production facilities and give you an understanding of the work done here at Schauspielhaus Zürich.
For details and booking enquiries, please contact: fuehrungen@schauspielhaus.ch
Collaborations
Blickfelder Festival
The Blickfelder Festival presents international theatre and dance productions for young audiences and implements local projects between schools and artists. With a diverse cultural programme and interactive activities, Blickfelder takes place every two years in a public space in the city of Zurich. The Schauspielhaus theatre is one of the festival's most important partners.
The next edition will take place from 28 May to 7 June 2026.
Spiilplätz 2026
SPIILPLÄTZ is a festival and working meeting for youth theatre clubs from institutional theatres and independent stages in Switzerland. Twelve youth theatre clubs from all over Switzerland meet once a year for four days. The young people – aged between 14 and 26 – show each other their current plays, discuss them in in-depth follow-up talks, take part in workshops together and network. The focus of SPIILPLÄTZ is on exchange rather than competition.
Date: June 2026 in Bern
Further information about the festival can be found here.
