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V. The Amateur Puppeteers
The picture of Czech puppetry at the end of the 19th
century would not be complete if we didn´t mention the increasing activity
of amateur puppeteers. They tried to take advantage especially of the personally
unassuming nature of the puppet theatre for their own theatrical activities as
early as the middle of the 19th century. This tendency grew more in the last
decades and by the beginning of the 20th century we can talk about movement,
which basically launched the phase of modern puppetry, despite the fact that
initially the amateurs were totally under the influence of the traditional
folk puppeteers. Public amateur activity was precursored by a marked expansion
of domestic, so-called family puppet theatres. These were mostly stages of
small dimensions, designed for entertainment and theatrical experiment in
the circle of family and close friends. If we look at a few cases from
nobility who could afford an expensive, professionally prepared puppet
theatre, we can confirm that these stages were at first prepared by hand
by a range of designers or design oriented dilettantes, who wanted a puppet
theatre mostly for the sake of their children. For example in the 30s of the
19th century the puppet of the famous Manes design family originated in this
way. Gradually with the help of printed paper decorations, which were brought
in from abroad, their popularity started to increase considerably. By the end
of the century a family puppet theatre was already a typical feature in the
salons of the town houses.
The turn of the century brought a new incentive for development, and was
partly the puppeteers themselves who attempted to raise the standard and social
prestige of their efforts. In 1902 the Puppet Theatre Club of Patriotic
Friends of Dr Pa?ík and the area of T?ebenicko, was born, the soul of
which was the puppet enthusiast Alois Rada (1868-1951). In the years
1902-1909 the theatre played not only in Prague, but organised tours around
Bohemia of shows which ended with instructional demonstrations for learner
puppeteers. A early as 1903, the members of this theatre organised the 1st
meeting of friends of puppet theatre (on this occasion they prepared Smetana´s
opera The Bartered Bride, in order to demonstrate possibilities of puppet
theatre). The following year the second meeting was held in Pilsen. In 1905
puppeteers from Kladno staged the first public competition for puppet plays:
its winner was the writer Vojt?ška Baldessari Plumlovská. In 1911 a
great puppet exhibition was organised in Prague which proved exceptionally
popular with the public. It was one of the first events in Jind?ich Veselý´s
(1887-1939) attempts to support the development of puppet theatricals. In the
same year, the Czech Association of Friends of Puppet Theatre was founded. One
of the many significant things that the association did to support the puppet
movement was to publish the magazine ?eský loutká? (Czech puppeteer) (1912-13),
which was the first specialized puppet magazine in the world. Jind?ich Veselý
became its editor.
Besides Prague, Pilsen became another significant center for puppet activity.
There was a puppet theatre in operation here from 1902. The new era of puppetry
in Pilsen started in 1913 when the former puppet companies united under the
management of a charity association which organised holidays stays for poor
children, and embarked on regular activities. The development of "The Summer
Camp Puppet Theatre" was significantly influenced by the acceptance of the
folk puppeteer Karel Novák (1862-1940), who became an honorary member
of the theatre. Together with the members of his family, he mastered the art
of manipulating puppets and made use of his positive experience with folk
theatre in his excellent professional performances. It was through his
co-operation with the amateur members of the group, who exercised their
influence through dramaturgy, that the individual profile of the "Campers"
started to develop. Designer Josef Skupa (1892-1957) joined this process in
1917, started to realise his ideas on modern puppetry and soon became the
group´s leading personality. Skupa believed that puppet theatre could
successfully address spectators too. During the final years of the war,
when the censor was limiting any form of free expression, Skupa took advantage
of the censor´s disinterest in puppet theatre and organised evening performances
for adults. The cabaret shows which were shown every evening on the Campers´
stage became a sensation of the highest order for the Czech population due to
their political relevance. The theatre´s activity climaxed in the last months
of the war when the "revolutionary " Kašpárek, symbolically buried Austrio-Hungary
on stage, to the enthusiastic approval of the spectators.
(Author: Alice Dubská, Czech Puppet Theatre over the Centuries)
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