15th Preetzer Papiertheatertreffen
von Sylvia Peasgood, Diana East, Leicester, United Kingdom
aus: British Puppet & Model Theatre Guild News
Letter No. 490, September 2002
In 1939 for his film Pinocchio Walt Disney designed his vertical multiplane camera. The camera was based upon the Toy Theatre but facing upwards instead of horizontally. The scenery and figures were placed upon horizontal glass plates at different spacings.
That popular Victorian invention the Peepshow was sometimes designed in the same style. Disney’s main difficulty was the reflection of the lights into the lens and in Pinocchio these can sometimes be noticed.
The peepshow and the Toy Theatre both create a small imaginative world into which we peer for a few minutes. Preetz gives us the chance to indulge ourselves in its variety of presentations.
For example our „Escape from Covent Garden“ / Thimble Theatre a Harlequinade with its robust language and highly coloured scenes of old London, could not have contrasted more than with „Zwei Herzen and Lumbye“ / Skovbakketeatret with its gentle waltzes and antique exquisite Danish sets. This is the main reason Sylvia, Diana and myself continue to attend and we hope to come back for a few more years.
No show is allowed to repeat in any following year so there is always that stimulus to create anew. Robert Poulter / New Model Theatre is never at a loss and this year his „The Loyal 47“ a Japanese tragedy and "Black Eye’d Susan" an English naval melodrama were given, again with his usual breathtaking speed.
How different was the measured pace of „Tales of St. Francis“ / Vest Pocket Playhouse from the USA. In this Jon Bankert sang throughout his own witty ditties to the music of The Mikado by Dr. Sullivan. His figures were masterfully designed on his computer, I think a first for this method.
Opinions concerning the shows vary over our meals (provided once again by Martine Bliese and her wonderful assistants) but there is something for everyone to enjoy. Shows overlap so there is a skill in picking preferences but we could not miss „Die Schatzinsel“ / Vischmarkt Papieren Theater an extraordinary version of „Treasure Island“ by Robert Louis Stevensen.
As in Faust last year Harry Ouderkerk had composed his own eery computerised music to all the main elements of this famous yarn. Blind Pew, Jim Hawkins, Long John Silver and others all strutted their parts in this highly original presentation.
Since we were performing we attended less than usual but we were very pleased not to have missed „Max and Moritz“ / Papiertheater Beelte. Having collected Wilhelm Busch over a number of years the stories were familiar but the show exceeded my expectations. Originally a school production with a live cast it had been reset as Toy Theatre. The Busch drawings were skilfully made into figures and the German rhymes were sung by a most talented childrens choir to delightful melodies composed by their music teacher.
I cannot say any more, all the shows we saw were of the highest standard possible for the limitations of our medium. It only leaves us to say thank you Dirk Reimers and Jürgen Schiedeck for yet another triumph.
xxx