Kasperl in Turkey

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Kasperl in Turkey is one of the most famous puppet shows by Franz von Pocci and was first published in 1859 in his anthology The Funny Comedy Booklet. The play is subtitled A Constantinopolitan Comedy in Two Acts and is about Kasperl's liberation of the slave Mimikatzi from the power of Sultan Shurimuri.

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Since Kasperl is illegally staying in the Sultan's court garden, he is seized by the guards and led to Sultan Shurimuri. At first he thought he was an English spy, but he was quickly misled by his skillful rhetoric. Kasperl pretends to be a professor à la botanique and doctor of blimiblamisophy and thus deeply impresses the sultan. In the second act, Kasperl meets Schurimuri's personal slave Mimikatzi and forges a plan with her to free her. This is done with the help of the Schnakenvertilgungsmaschin ' , which turns out to be a beating, with which Kasperl kills the Sultan under the pretext of wanting to drive away the gnats,

language

Kasperl clearly speaks with a Munich dialect, which leads to the first misunderstandings when talking to Schurimuri. These are deliberately reinforced by Kasperl by corrupting and twisting the sultan's statements.

Shurimuri: Ha! Adjustment! Diplomatic gimmick!

Kasperl: What? A zipflomatic whistle?

As soon as you think Kasperl is a scholar, he suddenly changes his language and uses an affected High German with thought-out foreign words ( Doctor of Blimiblamisophy ) and exaggerated pronunciation.

Kasperl: This plant or radi is a Worzelgewächs that tastes very good with beer. The same thing is sniffed in lids, which is usually enjoyed with salt.

The additional use of the dialect creates a humorous effect. The twisting of foreign words is one of Pocci's most popular and frequent jokes. In this way he parodies people who want to give themselves the appearance of a higher education, but often use foreign words incorrectly or unintentionally twist them.

Features of the puppet theater

The play shows some typical characteristics of the puppet theater. The recurring aside of the puppet figure is particularly characteristic and would break the illusion in any other form of theater and not fit into the concept. Here, on the other hand, it is common for the audience to be involved. In some places the reader of the play also clearly notices that the characters in the play are played by puppets. Mimikatzi describes himself as painted black and Kasperl claims that he has been wearing his red jacket and yellow trousers since he was born. Pocci's puppet figure has therefore neither changed nor developed.

output

  • Pocci, Franz von: Punch and Judy Comedies . Edited by Karl Pörnbacher. Stuttgart: Reclam 1972.

Literature (selection)

  • Moisy, Sigrid von: Franz Graf Pocci 1807-1876. Writer, draftsman, composer under three kings. Munich: Allitera 2007.
  • Schott, Georg: Count Pocci's puppet shows: their sources and their style. Phil. Diss. University of Munich 1911.
  • Valenta, Reinhard: Franz von Poccis Munich cultural rebellion: alternative theater in the time of bourgeois realism. Munich: Ludwig 1991.

Individual evidence

  1. cf. Schott, Georg: Count Pocci's puppet shows: their sources and their style. Phil. Diss. University of Munich 1911, p. 53.