Seppel
Seppel or Seppl (a nickname coming from Josef ) is a traditional figure from the classical ensemble of the puppet theater .
Emergence
In the Puppet Games literature, the figure of Seppel appears as Kasper's best friend and companion from around 1921 , the year the Hartensteiner, later Hohnsteiner Puppet Games were founded. While the old, still very boyish fairground rascal managed his adventures mostly alone and with the help of his cot (clap), the post-Jacobin rascal relied much more on peaceful and humorous problem-solving, for which the character needed a friend - this same Seppel.
The wood sculptor Theo Eggink created the "ancestors" of all later Seppeles . Originally Seppel was a character dressed in a Saxon boys' costume; later the puppeteers dressed him in the national costumes of their respective region, and a Bavarian -looking Seppel with lederhosen and the typical Seppel hat became more and more popular in the nationwide awareness of the public .
This figure soon belonged to the standard sets of industrially manufactured hand puppets, as they were commercially available as children's toys in a wide variety of materials. Some of them are still there (e.g. from Lotte Sievers-Hahn, Kersa, Dresdner Künstlerpuppen, Steiff and others).
Impact history
At Kasper's side, Seppel became a permanent member of the traditional puppet theater ensemble and, from the 1940s onwards, increasingly a "media star", whereby the Seppel representations in film, theater and radio play were extremely varied: The Hohnsteiner and other theaters staged a Seppel that was his Friend Kasper was clearly inferior intellectually, while the same figure in the numerous radio plays by Gerd von Haßler appeared as a witty, well-read and scientifically inventive man in young adulthood.
In the Robber Hotzenplotz , Otfried Preußler cast the figure as one of the main characters - portrayed in the film versions by Gerhard Acktun ( film adaptation from 1974 ) and by Manuel Steitz in the 2006 version . In the Hotzenplotz stories and arrangements, Seppel is not as resourceful and brave as Kasperl and usually thinks more slowly, but always behaves faithfully, does not complain and sometimes has good spontaneous ideas.
Not infrequently, Kasperl and Seppel are cast for optical purposes in such a way that they form a contrast: Seppel is either very tall and thin or rather small and rounded. In the Hotzenplotz stories Seppel is shown in the latter way, while Kasperl is taller and slimmer.
Idioms
The terms Seppelhose and Seppelhut for short Bavarian traditional lederhosen and the Bavarian traditional felt hat go back less to the Seppel figure of the puppet theater. Rather, the origin of these names can be found in the hypothesis that a majority of traditional costume wearers have the first name Josef, which is often given in Bavaria, here in the short form Seppel .
Individual evidence
- ^ "Duden - German spelling" entry Seppelhose