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“The lively direction by Ilaria Lanzino turned the play within the novel ‘Das fliegende Klassenzimmer,’ which the friends in the story stage, into a film. The latent threat to youth 90 years ago was the rising National Socialism and world war; today, it is the emerging climate catastrophe. This is handled with a lot of humor and without a wagging finger.”

 

“A refreshingly lively classic. A celebrated premiere. The prolonged applause at the end shows the great success of this world premiere.”

— Rheinische Post

 

“While Erich Kästner, amidst the burgeoning National Socialism, expressed the longing for freedom through flying, Ilaria Lanzino in his school film production focuses on the threat of our time: climate change. A pharaoh dies of thirst in the Egyptian desert while a cocktail-sipping polar bear loses his party spirit as the ice floe beneath him melts. (…) The opera remains true to the core of 'Das fliegende Klassenzimmer' even 90 years after the book's creation and shows a timeless parable of friendship in Duisburg.”

— WDR 3

 

“Volcanically good! (…) In a touching manner, Lanzino (direction) and Güner (stage/costumes) tell in this new opera of old values: of friendship and responsibility, of justice that doesn’t follow the letter but considers the person.”

— WAZ

 

“A very entertaining performance (…) This film development, a modernization of the theatrical performance from the book’s source material, forms a certain common thread in this production. The students fly with their classroom to various places around the world and find that, for example, a volcano erupts and buries everything under its lava. In the desert, the last drop of water is gone, making survival impossible. The polar bear can no longer survive in the northern polar region because his ice floe is melting and the water level is constantly rising. All of this frightens the students, leading them to express their message ‘Stop Climate Change – Or We Are All Dead’ through this film. An important theme cleverly integrated into the opera without significantly altering the original story and without being preachy. Nonetheless, director Ilaria Lanzino uses quite striking images in this context, which are always narrated in a child-friendly way but can be quite emotional for the adult audience. Both young and older viewers at the premiere loudly expressed their applause for the performers and creative team.”

— Der Opernfreund

 

“An adventure of the timeless kind (…) the enthusiastic children in the fully packed theater celebrated with minutes-long and very loud applause.”

— Rundschau Duisburg

 

“To engage children and teenagers, theater should be as colorful and lively as possible. It's wise to offer many authentic connections to the everyday lives of young people. In Ilaria Lanzino's directorial concept, as well as in the set and costumes by Emine Güner, there are many elements and moments that follow this idea. The first scene already pulses with life. The piece begins in the schoolyard of the gymnasium. There is play and frolic, sometimes ‘with hard bandages.’ A boy relentlessly plays his air guitar. The inseparable five, displaying a banner with the inscription ‘Stop Climate Change,’ have a clash with the supervising teacher. It is equally colorful later in the gymnasium and at the disused railway track.

The media world in which the students live is given great importance in the production. A film of shooting scenes is shown on stage before the audience, demonstrating the students’ skill with video technology and their staging abilities. The world as they see it is already groaning under the severe impact of climate change. The videos developed by Andreas Etter and Fabio Stoll show a volcano erupting and threatening the lives of the island inhabitants. Deserts expand under growing dryness, increasing the risk of people dying of thirst. As the polar caps melt, the habitat for polar bears shrinks, and the sea level rises with dire consequences for humanity. 'Das fliegende Klassenzimmer' tells with emotional force about things that also concern Fridays for Future. It thus plays right in the life of its target audience (…) unanimous applause.”

— O-TON