his communique comes from fellow member, Ruth Stotter. She is currently in Prague and sends us a report on puppet theater in Vienna, Prague and Budapest. -Mary Decker

Hi, Mary. I am in Prague and wondered if you could forward this to the newsletter editor in case it - or parts of it - would be of interest for the next issue.

Eastern Europe is a popular destination for the opera, but few American tourists visit the spectacular marionette opera theaters in Vienna, Prague or Strausborg. In April we joined a ninety-seven percent adult audience to see Mozart's "Magic Flute" performed by the Marionette Theatre Schloss Schonbrun in Vienna. The theatre was founded in 1995 by Christine and Werner Hiezer and produces, as the man next to me commented, "real theatre!" "Magic Flute," adapted for marionette presentation, demonstrated life-like manipulation, superb blocking and lighting. Not only did the puppets move their necks and faces as they spoke and sang in a life-like manner, the other puppets on stage reacted constantly. There was never a sense of frozen figures standing on the stage. Walking, kneeling, gesturing, even kissing was beautifully executed by each puppet. It was fun to hear the audience gasp after the final curtain call when the faces of the manipulators appeared behind the puppets, shattering the illusionary belief that we were watching life-size figures. The magical manipulation included puppets spinning, dancing, and one incredible scene where a puppet was surrounded by five peaks of fabric, wrapped up and floated off the stage. The puppets were mainly eighteen inches high with a few smaller and some larger. The strings, which virtually disappeared during the performance were about twenty-four inches. The puppet bodies were made from leather, foam and pine, with the hands carved from lime wood. The beautiful costumes were silk and hand-painted fabrics. Almost all of the marionettes were operated by a seven string control with three additional wires. This was an A-plus opera experience. Beautiful music, drama and humor. I hope that the Puppeteers of America will invite this troupe to our festival.

-----

There are two marionette theatres in Prague, both producing Opera. I attended the National Puppet Theatre's rendition of "Don Giovanni" and found it at times amateurish, with juvenile slap-stick (despite 3 children and ninety-seven adults in the audience) and the puppets were often clumsy. To be fair, there were some wonderful scenes, and the music was great. Interestingly, the puppeteer hands showed at all times and when a puppet fainted or died the puppeteer would drop the control board and swoon over the backdrop, dropping his or her head and arms down as if they, too, had swooned or died.

There are dozens of puppet shops in Prague, mostly with the same wares. One shop stands out as original puppets are available here. It is called Bejvavalo and can be visited at www.marionettes.cz.

-----
There are two puppet theatres in Budapest (Hungary) near the Octogon where my apartment was located. I attended a show for very young children - "The Three Wishes." The puppeteers used a Banraku technique without disgusing themselves in any way and alternated the puppet story with a contemporary story between them with the same theme. (Hunger, having wishes, hastily wasting their wishes.) The second puppet theatre produces slicker performances in a more elegant setting.

----
I look forward to the Strausborg puppet theatre next month (June).

Best wishes, Ruth