1000 handmade puppets are part of the repertoire of the renowned Tölz Marionette Theater, but only eight players pull the strings. About an art that not only needs modern technology to survive, but also new fans behind the scenes.
Brandner Kaspar is a likeable guy. He looks mischievously from under his bushy eyebrows, smart in a white shirt and gray cardigan. In the marionette theater in Bad Tölz he is the darling of the audience. The widow of the Bavarian folk actor Fritz Straßner once said after meeting Kaspar: “He looks like my husband,” says Albert Maly-Motta. He runs the puppet theater together with Karl-Heinz Bille. Brandner Kaspar is still dangling from a hook and grinning to himself. The wooden figure weighs two kilos, and if you want to play it, you first have to climb a steep ladder behind the stage to the play bridge. But as exciting as it is behind the scenes, only a few climb the bridge. Fewer and fewer young people want to play marionettes. In order to secure the future of the puppet theater, the managers are looking for reinforcements: volunteer players as well as creative people who want to get involved in puppet construction.