Pieces in marionette theater are like comics set in motion: bold colours, characters reduced to a few characteristic features, condensed storylines with the courage to leave things out and surprising uses of the repertoire of fairytale arts and talents leave the audience plenty of room for imagination. In one or the other, it moves on an idiosyncratic path, which makes each piece unique – better “made” in the subjunctive, because the way Hermann Schuster thinks and directs his theater, every performance is different from the previous one anyway.
Forstinninger has reactivated the legacy of his grandfather, who had been traveling the country with a puppet theater since the 1930s. The proscenium stage is now in the studio of the Ebersberg cultural association, the puppets have been given new colors and clothes, one of the first pieces he wrote himself celebrated its premiere last Friday: “Journey to Mars”. All together has lost none of its appeal, as evidenced by the enthusiastic response to the performance: a full house, crackling with anticipation of the promised entertainment, a magical anachronism at a time when computer simulations in cinema and television create seemingly perfect illusions. It is precisely the imperfection, such as the fine puppet threads, that allows us all to come closer, yes, to identify with the puppets, as we feel the human in them, that of the invisible players on the stage and from there into the audience skips.
In the middle of the garden of Kasperl’s parents’ house, the Mars king lands on earth – Kasperl’s mother Babette is amazed.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
Schuster’s decision not to work without tape recordings, but not only to play the role with his hands, but also to speak with his own voice at the same time, reinforces this effect. This creates freedom when improvising, for example when the limp engineer falls out of the rocket while waving and crashes into the garden. But this also gives the opportunity for spontaneous dialogue with the audience, for responding to the atmosphere in the room. You live and root for Schuster, his brother Anton and Eva Maria Wirth when they play their solos on the strings and when they act together. At times it becomes so intense as if you were part of the ensemble – puppet theater in its purest form, as the older generations probably all tried it out in their childhood, including dialect gimmicks.
The fantasy figures are lovingly carved and painted, whether it’s Kasperl himself or the King of Mars…
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
… or the Martian monster that actually manages to kidnap Kasperl on Mars, …
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
… or the two-headed one, another inhabitant of Mars, whom Kasperl gets to know right at the beginning on the alien planet.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
Punch and Judy’s space adventure is as multidimensional and timeless as space itself. The absence of fairground silliness helps, as does the seriousness of telling the adventure. Everything fits together: there are the fantasy figures, three-quarters of a century old, lovingly carved and painted figures that are as characteristic as ever. Rockets still look a lot like the metallic cylinder from Grandpa Schuster’s workshop. The neighboring planet itself is still beyond human reach. Except that today it is no longer cheeky engineers like Mr. Weitschuss who strive there, but billionaires in need of recognition.
It is foreseeable that it is Punch and Judy, of all people, who gets a curious “little sightseeing flight” for an extended detour into space. But it’s no more likely today than it was when the piece was written that the rocket ride there would be almost effortless thanks to his carefree attitude and bravery. His visionary power is taken to the extreme in the intercultural dialogue between Kasperl and the Martians, who are wide awake and relaxed about his language course. But the fact that the falling astronaut lands exactly on Mama’s sofa at the end of the journey is a fairytale, even in times of GPS navigation.
After his exciting journey to Mars, Kasperl ends up back in his parents’ garden – mother Babette has specially set up a sofa for a soft landing.
(Photo: Peter Hinz-Rosin)
Time flies in six entertaining acts, separated by a conversation-intensive break. Almost everyone in the room has something to tell each other and the melodies of “Did you see…”, “Do you remember…” and “I almost thought…” belong to the puppet theater like the sometimes awkward ones Movements of the figures and the flaming light on the closed curtain. They are the chorus in the little opera that develops cheerfully and holterdipolter in front of us, unpredictable in its succession of great movement and small jokes.
The fact that enthusiasm for puppetry is contagious is shown by the names of two outspoken professionals, whose contribution gives the piece unexpected wow effects. On the one hand, there is the Ebersberg foley artist Markus Bauer, whose skills make the rocket credible for the audience to fly. On the other hand, there is the composer Hermann Weindorf, ennobled by three ESC participations, among other things, who creates zones of musical weightlessness in the best Jean-Michel Jarre style, thanks to which the senses of the audience can no longer resist the forces of the universe.
The perfect illusion can be seen on stage
The care taken by the two design elements not only shows the overall artistic claim of the staging. She also reveals an attention to detail that not only touches the mind, but also stimulates the feelings in such a way that the illusion is perfect: what we see there on stage is experienced reality.
The fantastic six-act play also has a very subtle cliffhanger: the king of Mars, who involuntarily landed on earth, is still on earth in the company of a saxon zoo director, maybe even at the Ebersberg train station, where the two of them disappeared never to be seen again. There should be approaches for a second episode. The enthusiastic reaction of the audience, who gave the puppets and players standing applause at the new premiere, suggests that there is a lot of anticipation. But maybe some will come to one of the other performances to discover details that have been overlooked so far and to secure a seat with a clear view of the stage: the back of the heads of the people in front in the small studio without a sloping parquet floor are the only element of the Mars journey that can safely be overlooked.
Historical marionette theater by Hermann Schuster, Studio on the ramp in the Ebersberg monastery building yard, on Sunday, February 26, and Saturday, March 4, Saturday, 11, Sunday, 26, and Friday, March 31, at 5 p.m Clock. Admission is free, seats can be reserved on the Kunstverein’s website www.kunstvereinebersberg.de. More game dates are being planned.