Augsburger doll crate

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Stage of the Augsburger Puppenkiste

The Augsburger Puppenkiste is a puppet theater in Germany .

It is housed in the historic Heilig-Geist-Spital in Augsburg's old town and has been performing fairy tales and serious plays since 1948 . With its numerous television productions (including pieces about Jim Knopf and Urmel ), the Puppenkiste gained nationwide fame since 1953.

history

Building in Spitalgasse

In 1943 Walter Oehmichen (1901–1977), his wife Rose Oehmichen (1901–1985) and their daughters Hannelore (1931–2003) and Ulla founded their own small puppet theater: the “Puppet Shrine”, a small stage set up in a door frame could. On the night of February 26, 1944, the puppet shrine was destroyed in a bomb attack on Augsburg . The figures were retained, however - Walter Oehmichen had taken them home after he had given a performance in the Augsburg City Theater for the children of the stage staff, where the puppet shrine fell victim to the flames. Today only a rosette of the doll's shrine is preserved.

After the end of the war, Walter Oehmichen began planning a new puppet theater. In the former Heilig-Geist-Spital he found a space that could serve as a permanent performance location. Initially, Oehmichen had to share the venue with the statistical office.

In the post-war period, the Oehmichen family managed to open their puppet theater under the name Augsburger Puppenkiste on February 26, 1948 - exactly four years to the day after the puppet's shrine was destroyed - with the play Puss in Boots . Young actors from Augsburg were hired as puppeteers and speakers, including Manfred Jenning . He quickly became the in-house author of the Puppenkiste and in 1951 established a tradition with the New Year's Eve cabaret for adults, which changes every year and has been maintained ever since. The first "Cabaret" premiere was presented on December 31, 1950. Since then there has been a new cabaret every New Year's Eve.

First Walter Oehmichen carved the marionettes, but soon handed this task over to his daughter Hannelore. The famous "Stars on Strings" emerged under her leadership. Hannelore secretly carved her first figure at the age of 13 because she shouldn't have used the sharp carving knife. Her first known character was the little prince . In the premiere performance of the theater, Hannelore led Puss in Boots. Oehmichen's wife Rose dressed up the dolls and took on many mother and grandmother roles as speaker.

On the 25th anniversary in 1973, Hannelore and her husband Hanns-Joachim Marschall (1927–1999), actors who also worked in the Puppenkiste for many years, took over the management of the puppet theater. In 1977 Walter Oehmichen died, who had supported the theater until his death. Rose Oehmichen died in 1985. Daughter Hannelore became the owner of the doll box.

Klaus Marschall (* 1961), son of Hannelore and Hanns-Joachim Marschall, has been working in the theater since the early 1980s . In 1992 he took over the management from his parents. Hanns-Joachim Marschall withdrew from the theater and died in 1999. His wife Hannelore continued to carve the figures and kept standing on the play bridge. Jürgen Marschall (* 1958), Klaus Marschall's older brother, joined the company in the early 1990s and supported his mother Hannelore in making dolls. After her death on May 16, 2003, he became her inheritance. Jürgen Marschall has created countless new characters for the theater in recent years.

Figures from ensemble members of the Puppenkiste are also constantly being contributed to new pieces or to the annual new KABARET program. For example by Christoph Woithon, Christian Blank, Carsten Gardner, Kristina Lehmann, Florian Moch or Laura-Mair Kühnel.

Between 1994 and 2003, the puppet maker, set designer and former ensemble member Andreas Becker made figures for the theater, the movie Monty Spinnerratz and the television production "Lilalu im Schepperland", which are still produced today, alongside marionettes from all the other puppet makers in the Puppenkiste the stage or the in-house museum Die Kiste can be seen.

Over the years, the venue at the Red Gate has become very tight for the theater. As part of the renovation of the Heilig-Geist-Spital and planning for a "Rotes Tor cultural park", the city of Augsburg made further rooms available in 2000 and set up a new theater hall opposite the old one. This hall was opened on October 21, 2000.

In 2004 the Augsburger Puppenkiste was awarded the Golden Camera .

The box lids

The game plan under a typical box lid

The theater's trademarks are box lids with the name Augsburger Puppenkiste printed diagonally and the addition of Oehmichens Marionettentheater. The name Puppenkiste goes back to Walter Oehmichen: After the puppet shrine had been destroyed, his new puppet theater should find space in a box so that it can always be easily transported.

The stage cutout (0.90 × 2 meters) in the theater in Augsburg is closed by two oversized box lids. For television, there were separate, smaller covers that were adapted to the screen size or the screen format of 4: 3. These box lids, which have been used almost unchanged since the end of the 1950s, were used in almost all television productions of the Puppenkiste. A new so-called insert box was made especially for the production The Robbery of the Midnight Sun (1994), which is longer in line with the 16: 9 broadcast format .

Only television programs that were made with the sole participation of the Puppenkiste or that were intended to stand out from the regular productions of the Hessischer Rundfunk could do without the box lids. The various episodes for the Sandman (1962–1982), Die Museumratten (1965–1972), I wish me was (1968–1970), We Schildbürger (1972), Natur und Technik (1972–1976) and Ralphi (2004-2006).

theatre

Children's pieces

Many classic fairy tales, not only by the Brothers Grimm , but also from the Arabian Nights or based on Wilhelm Hauff , are played in the doll box. Pieces such as Aladin and the Magic Lamp , The Dwarf Nose and Frau Holle have been on the program for decades in changing productions. The robber Hotzenplotz (1966), the theater's most popular play, or Die kleine Hexe (1971) - both based on models by Otfried Preußler - have been played unchanged since they were first staged. In 1983 the two-part play Wolkenreiter und Sohn was shown. The play The Wizard of Oz (2013) is new in the doll box and The Little Aquarius has been played since 2011 . The Christmas story was on stage from December 2014 to the beginning of January 2015 and in 2015, in addition to the pieces mentioned, the program mainly includes fairy tales such as Sleeping Beauty , Rumpelstiltskin or Hansel and Gretel .

Fabrics for adults

In contrast to what you might expect from a puppet theater, many adaptations of adult material were and will be brought to the stage in the puppet box: Oehmichen initially staged many plays that he did not do at the Augsburg Stadttheater , where he was director was able to realize, among others Ein Traumspiel by August Strindberg . The first seasons were difficult, but on February 26, 1951, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince was the big breakthrough for the small puppet theater. Walter Oehmichen himself appeared here in the role of the aviator.

The first performance of Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera in Augsburg by the Puppenkiste caused a sensation on September 25, 1960. Oehmichen also appeared here as a petty singer himself. The poet, who died four years earlier in the GDR, was a rather unloved son of the city during the Cold War . The trial of the donkey's shadow (1962) by Friedrich Dürrenmatt is also repeatedly on the program.

In addition to serious and funny subjects and classics such as Dr. Johannes Fausti staged and staged the puppet box as well as operas and other musical works, primarily based on Mozart's models . As early as 1952, Walter Oehmichen brought both the comic opera Bastien and Bastienne to the stage and Prokofiev's musical fairy tale Peter and the Wolf . In 1985 the theater brought out A Little Magic Flute . The piece was implemented in a puppet-friendly manner by Oehmichen's son-in-law Hanns-Joachim Marschall. The characters received their voices from singing actors, and large arias were completely deleted. The Little Abduction from the Seraglio (1991) was successfully staged according to the same pattern.

For the Mozart year 2006 , Klaus Marschall staged the classic material of Don Giovanni as Don Giovanni and the stone guest . In the role of Don Giovanni's servant, the puppet of the doll box can be seen, who spices up the play with his own wit.

The cabaret is shown very successfully every year . The current cabaret program always premieres on New Year's Eve . Around 100 performances will be played in the following six months of the New Year. The content of the puppet show often adapts dynamically to current events.

In 2018 Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen premiered in a two-hour version, text version and direction: Florian Moch , music: Enjott Schneider .

Television and cinema

From 1953 the doll box became known nationwide: on January 21, just a few weeks after the premiere of the Tagesschau , the first television broadcast with the story of Peter and the Wolf took place.

The program was replayed in the bunker of the NWDR in Hamburg and - like the following programs produced by Hessischer Rundfunk in the Frankfurt television studio until 1954 - broadcast live due to the lack of recording technology. Between 1956 and 1959, Bayerischer Rundfunk was another station of the Puppenkiste, as HR had discontinued its children's programs during this period. After the reintroduction, however, this offered the in-house author Manfred Jenning the opportunity to realize his idea of ​​a multi-part (The Story of the Moomin Family) and the doll box went back to HR. If these first television productions of the Puppenkiste were still filmed theater, they were soon shot with the expense of a feature film. There were now three to four minutes of broadcasting per working day. The puppeteers, who were working at around 60 degrees because of the headlights, had sweat on their foreheads. From then on, production was carried out in the foyer of the Augsburg theater that had been converted into a studio. Under Jenning's direction, the pure theater recordings developed into real television films that exhausted all the possibilities of the medium. The television plays were decoupled from the stage productions early on. So it came about that none of the well-known TV stars could ever be seen on the stage in Augsburg.

The 1960s / 1970s

The first big "Stars on Strings" included - still produced in black and white - The Moomin Family (1959/60, two seasons), Jim Button and Lukas the Locomotive Driver (1961/62, two seasons, remake in color 1976), Der little fat knight (1963), Klecksi, the octopus (1963), of which almost everything was carelessly destroyed, and the cat Mikesch (1964). Since 1954, apart from a short interlude with Bayerischer Rundfunk 1956–1958, it has been producing with Hessischer Rundfunk.

From 1965, with a view to the upcoming color television, the lion trilogy was produced on (16 mm) color film (it was initially shown in black and white from 1965 to 1967 and was later repeated in color). All Puppenkiste productions were filmed in color below: Räuber Hotzenplotz (1967), Bill Bo (1968) and Urmel aus dem Eis (1969).

Max Kruse became one of the most filmed authors . He provided the templates for The lion is loose , a lion has flown and roared well, lion , Urmel plays in the castle (1974) as well as for Don Blech and the Golden Junker (1973) and the wild west adventure Lord Butter Shirt (1978).

The scripts for these productions came from Manfred Jenning , who from 1970 with Kleiner König Kalle Wirsch also took over the direction of the TV plays by Harald Schäfer. With A Week Full of Saturdays in 1977, a book by Paul Maar was staged for the first time under his direction . In the same year Jenning died at the age of 50 after a long and serious illness.

The 1980s / 1990s

His successor in television productions was Sepp Strubel . Strubel had been the spokesperson for the Puppenkiste since the early 1960s and had devised and implemented a series of scientific magazines for children with puppets in the Puppenkiste, Nature and Technology or Thinking and Thought (1972–1976). Instead of authors with whom the Puppenkiste could already celebrate successes, Strubel brought in new authors for television work. In 1980 the second part of Sams , namely On Saturday came back , was staged from a book that Paul Maar published in the same year. In 1980 Die Opodeldoks was created based on a book by Paul Maar written for the Puppenkiste, and in 1982 the film adaptation of Cat with Hat . Space became a new goal of Strubels: First it went to the apple star ( Five on the apple star , 1981), then in 1986/87 the little robot Schlupp came from the green star to earth (book: Ellis Kaut ).

On April 16, 1983, a regular performance had to be canceled after it had started, because as part of an audience bet on the ZDF show currently taking place in Augsburg, Wetten, dass ..? a short-term appearance of the puppets in the live broadcast was not considered possible. Some actors from the puppeteer team went to the ZDF show with well-known marionettes and thus unexpectedly on television that day. In 1994 the last television production was realized with the Hessischer Rundfunk: Sepp Strubel no longer directed Der Raub der Midnight Sunne. Only the script came from him - as with Das Burggespenst Lülü (1992) and Der Zauberer Schmollo (1993).

In 1997, the Augsburger Puppenkiste made it to the big screen with The Story of Monty Spinnerratz by the American children's book author Tor Seidler . Around 900,000 cinema-goers experience how (rat) puppets and people act together in the New York harbor and underworld. The film, directed by Michael F. Huse , was awarded the Bavarian Film Prize for Best Children's Film in 1997 .

Since 2000

In 2000/01 there was a new series for television: In Lilalu im Schepperland (a total of 13 episodes) the adventures of the princess of the fairy tale-singing kingdom Melodanien, the court kitchen gnome Pimpernell and the crow Lukulla in the fight against the mighty witch Synkopia, against the Red leprechaun, witches and wizards told. The script for it - based on motifs from the Browny Tales by Enid Blyton - came from Peter Scheerbaum, the in-house author of Puppenkiste, who was already involved in the script for The Story of Monty Spinnerratz .

The Puppenkiste's latest television project is Ralphi (2005/06): The Schlaubär goes on an exploration tour for the knowledge channel BR-alpha . A wide variety of topics are prepared in a child-friendly manner. However, Ralphi is not in the fantasy world of the doll box, but in reality: he visits museums, is out on rivers and lakes or is on a flying visit to mayors.

In addition, the Puppenkiste produces documentaries aimed at children as well as adults: In Augusta Kasperlicorum (2004), the Puppet presents his city to the Puppenkiste. As a contribution to the Mozart Year , Kasperl in Augusta Mozarteum (2006) follows in the footsteps of the famous composer, whose father, like Kasperl, is the son of the city of Augsburg. Both documentaries were only released on DVD.

The Puppenkiste returned to its roots with the filming of the cabaret: on New Year's Eve 2005, a cut of the current Augsburg production was shown with the cabaret of the puppets , filmed from the stage of the Augsburg headquarters. Furthermore, since April 1, 2006, various music numbers from the cabaret program have been presented as pause fillers on BR-alpha under the title Poesie des Staunen .

In autumn 2011, the management of KiKA classified the programs of the Augsburger Puppenkiste as no longer up-to-date and removed them from the program.

After Bavaria's Minister of State for Education and Culture, Ludwig Spaenle , spoke in early 2012 about the fact that he was concerned about the joint children's program on ARD and ZDF, the topic of “doll box on TV” came up again. Since mid-March 2012, the consideration of a cooperation between Bavarian Radio and Puppenkiste regarding new TV productions has been in the room.

In 2016, the Augsburger Puppenkiste immortalized its staging of the biblical Christmas story on film. This could be seen in cinemas nationwide during the Advent season. In the following year, the Augsburger Puppenkiste released their third movie When Santa Claus fell from the sky, based on the children's book of the same name by Cornelia Funke , in 2018 the movie Ghosts of Christmas after Charles Dickens ' A Christmas Carol .

Since July 2017, fans of the Puppenkiste have been trying to bring the productions back onto television with the help of an online petition.

Tour projects

For its 50th anniversary, the Augsburger Puppenkiste embarked on a two-year tour through Germany in 1998, supported by the Bertelsmann Club.

Since 2003, the puppet theater has been touring through German children's clinics with the courage piece The Little Kangaroo and the Scared Rabbit, based on a book by Paul Maar . The play was also performed three times a day between April 29 and May 7, 2006 during a visit to the Puppenkiste in Augsburg's Japanese twin town, Amagasaki .

Another tour started in 2006, aiming for kindergartens. Through the play Paula and the box goblins by Peter Scheerbaum , children should learn to deal with their feelings. The piece was developed as part of the beta Institute's Papilio project , taking into account scientific findings. The Papilio tour started on March 7, 2006 in the Bavarian State Parliament in Munich .

In addition, the Augsburger Puppenkiste is touring Germany with the play “Urmel's Great Journey”.

Die Kiste - The Augsburg Puppet Theater Museum

On October 6, 2001, Die Kiste - The Augsburger Puppet Theater Museum was opened on the first floor of the Heilig-Geist-Spital directly above the theater.

Well-known stars such as Urmel, Jim Knopf and Kalle Wirsch are shown in a permanent exhibition . In special exhibitions that change every four months, figures from the stock as well as from other theaters and collections on various, often current, puppet theater topics are presented.

music

Some of the most famous pieces from the Augsburger Puppenkiste, such as "Das Lummerlandlied", were composed by Hermann Amann .

The group Dolls United achieved a hit parade in German-speaking countries in September 1995 with a dance version of An Island with Two Mountains from the Puppenkisten film adaptation by Jim Knopf and Lukas the locomotive engineer (2nd place on the German charts ). In Germany, the single was awarded a platinum record in 1996 for more than 500,000 copies sold .

2017 were figures of the Augsburg Puppet Theater together with doctors singer Bela B . in whose music video One stays up.

Remarkable

The FC Augsburg is cooperating since 2009 with the puppet theater. As part of this cooperation, the Kasperle types the result before each home game. In addition, the captain of the FCA gives the opposing captain an annually changing puppet instead of a pennant. In the 2015/16 season, Mikesch the cat was the present for the guests, in the years before, Urmel, Jim Knopf and Lukas, the locomotive driver, were presented among others. After every goal by the FCA, the melody "An island with two mountains" from the film adaptation by Jim Knopf and Lukas the locomotive driver is played as the goal anthem .

Augsburg puppet traffic light

Since July 2017 there has been a pedestrian traffic light with a green puppet near the Augsburger Puppenkiste . The idea for the famous Ampelmännchen that following the example of Mainzelmännchen -Ampel in Mainz was had, the Augsburg television station a.tv . Its employees were of the opinion that the Kasperle was at least as well known as the famous ZDF mascots . After review and approval by the authorities, the puppet traffic light was finally put into operation.

See also

literature

  • Augsburger Puppenkiste (Ed.): 50 years of Augsburger Puppenkiste. Rütten & Loening, Berlin 1997, ISBN 3-352-00699-7 .
  • Ulf Brönner (Ed.): Augsburger Puppenkiste. Brönner picture stories. Brönner, Frankfurt am Main 1972:
  1. Bill Bo and his cronies
  2. Little King Kalle Wirsch
  3. Urmel from the ice
  4. 3-0 for the beards
  5. We shield citizens
  • German Institute for Puppet Play (Ed.): The Augsburger Puppenkiste on television. German Institute for Puppetry, Bochum 1967.
  • Michael Ende : Jim Button and Lukas the Engine Driver. Emma goes on a journey. Delphin, Stuttgart 1972, ISBN 3-7735-2214-2 .
  • Peter Garski: Panic in the Puppenkiste - An Augsburg thriller . SOSO-Verlag, Augsburg 2006, ISBN 3-923914-12-1 .
  • Christa B. Geis (Ed.): 40 years of the Augsburger Puppenkiste. The color journal for the anniversary. Vindelica, Augsburg 1988.
  • Manfred Jenning: The TV Sandman tells. Kunibert and Heiner, Pieperle, Beppo and Peppi. Spectrum, Essen 1976, ISBN 3-7976-1259-1 .
  • Holger Jenrich: From Titiwu to Lummerland. 50 years of the Augsburger Puppenkiste. Klartext, Essen 1998, ISBN 3-88474-551-4 .
  • Josef Lada : Hangover Mikesch at the church fair. Delphin, Munich 1990, ISBN 3-7735-2216-9 .
  • Hanns-Joachim Marschall, Willy Schweinberger: Stars on threads. The big color book about the world famous Augsburger Puppenkiste. AWO advertising, Augsburg 1985.
  • Werner Morgenrath: The story of Monty Spinnerratz. The book about the film. Franz Schneider, Munich 1997, ISBN 3-505-10635-6 .
  • Ulrike Schabert: The anniversary tour of the Augsburger Puppenkiste. Bertelsmann Club, Rheda-Wiedenbrück 1998.
  • Harald Schäfer: The museum rats. An entertaining educational journey with marionettes from the Augsburger Puppenkiste through the Leather Museum in Offenbach, the Transport Museum in Nuremberg, the Wilhelm Busch Museum in Hanover, the Münchhausen Museum in Bodenwerder and the Till Eulenspiegel Museum in Schöppenstedt. R. G. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-89501-376-5 .
  • Peter Scheerbaum, Nicola Kächele: Lilalu in the Schepperland. The book about the film. Wissner, Augsburg 2000, ISBN 3-89639-213-1 .
  • Peter Scheerbaum: Paula and the box goblins. A reading story about feelings. Beta-Institutsverlag, Augsburg 2005, ISBN 3-934942-09-1 .
  • Barbara van den Speulhof, Fred Steinbach (ed.): The big book of the Augsburger Puppenkiste. (= Anniversary band for the 65th anniversary and the 60th television birthday of the Augsburger Puppenkiste). Boje Verlag, Cologne 2013, ISBN 978-3-414-82354-0 .

Web links

Commons : Augsburger Puppenkiste  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Augsburger Puppenkiste schedule at augsburger-puppenkiste.de, accessed on February 27, 2015.
  2. ↑ Alois Knoller: Augsburger Puppenkiste dares to do the "Ring des Nibelungen" . In: Augsburger Allgemeine . ( augsburger-allgemeine.de [accessed on November 26, 2018]).
  3. ↑ one day: a quarter to twelve in the Lummerland
  4. ↑ Augsburger Puppenkiste back on television? In: HNA.de. March 19, 2012, accessed January 21, 2020 .
  5. ↑ https://www.evangelisch.de/inhalte/135841/26-06-2016/augsburger-puppenkiste-bringt-weihnachtsgeschichte-ins-kino
  6. ↑ https://www.openpetition.de/petition/online/bringt-die-augsburger-puppenkiste-zurueck-ins-tv Brings the Augsburger Puppenkiste back to TV! - openPetition , July 15, 2017, accessed December 31, 2017.
  7. ↑ Tour piece “Urmel's great journey” at augsburger-puppenkiste.de, accessed on April 20, 2015.
  8. ↑ BelaB_official: Bela B - One remains lying down (official video). January 20, 2017. Retrieved March 23, 2017 .
  9. ↑ FC Augsburg: Kater Mikesch is a new guest gift . fcaugsburg.de. August 14, 2015. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  10. ↑ Cooperation with the Puppenkiste
  11. ↑ Augsburger Allgemeine: Augsburg gets a Punch and Judy traffic light . In: Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung (ed.): Augsburger Allgemeine . ( augsburger-allgemeine.de [accessed on July 24, 2017]).

Coordinates: 48 ° 21 ′ 37.3 "  N , 10 ° 54 ′ 11.7"  E