The Emperor's New Clothes

The emperor's subjects live in poverty and toil to satisfy the Emperor’s appetite for new clothing; the Emperors busy shopping for luxurious sewing materials. The kingdom’s treasury is emptying and the ministers are worried. A pair of tailors arrives and offers the Emperor a “deal”: magic clothes, which only wise people can see, in exchange for the kingdom’s treasury…

All the characters are made of objects from the world of sewing.

award

• The show "The Emperor’s New Clothes” has won the Interdisciplinary Play of the Year and Puppet & Prop Design Award in the Assitej prize competition for children’s play 2013

From the reviews

Buttons, spools, needles, looms, sewing boxes ...  These are the heroes of the ’The Emperor's New Clothes,’ created and performed by Nili Dvir.  This original show takes a familiar tale to new heights of feeling and modern relevance.  In the process of animating all of these sewing tools, Nili Dvir updates the familiar allegorical tale with allusions to current governmental priorities and social justice.  So while children enjoy an entertaining story, their parents can appreciate the text’s wit and topical significance which feels completely natural, as if this is exactly what Hans Christian Andersen intended in his original story.  We all know how it ends, yet Nili Dvir still manages to keep up the suspense till the very last minute and is rewarded with loud applause ... deservedly so. The play is a holistic performance with accessories, design and costumes all pleasing to the eye.

Yoram Bar-Sela, Culture and the City

 Nili Dvir brings us into a royal palace made of shelves, drawers, and lots of open sewing boxes which are the stars of this lovely performance based on Hans Christian Andersen's ’The Emperor's New Clothes.’  The stage setting and characters are all constructed from objects taken from the world of sewing.  The inanimate objects all come to life, and we are fascinated to see a spool, button, thimble and needle transform into a combat soldier, just one of an entire battalion like him, all emerging from the limitless imagination that is Nili’s theatrical world.Museum of Art, Ein Harod ,19 October 2012

 

I want to express my great appreciation and thank the creators for a marvelous play.  This inspiring and imaginative play, full of social and ethical themes, appeals to both young and old alike.  You could even say that the story is ’wearing new clothes,’ topical and yet still timeless.  The stage setting, too, is surprising and original, a perfect fit for the adaptation of the story.  The show is highly artistic and is superbly crafted.  I have no doubt that lots more children and adults will get to see this original show in their schools or at the Train Theater.  Well done!
Sarah Ryman Shore, curator of interactive exhibits for the family, Tel-Aviv Museum of Art

Participation in festivals

• International Festival of Puppet Theater in Jerusalem
• 23rd Haifa International Festival of Children's Theater
• International Festival of Puppet Theater and Film, Holon
• The 10th International Festival “Spectaculo Interesse,” Ostrava, Czech Republic, 2013