Meet Kasperle

Kasperle is a very old puppet character, you can trace him back to the Middle Ages. The character probably evolved from the Jester in the castle. Jesters entertained the King by trying to be funny. Kasperle puppet plays entertained the people at fairs, on market places, and even in churches.The puppet play served as a type of newsstand since back then there was no television or radio. Kasperle Puppet Theater was for children but it was also theater for all the people who could not afford to buy a ticket for the "real" theater. Kasperle changed a lot over time but he always was funny and very smart.

For our Kasperle Puppet Theater we kept things like in the old days and we also changed some things. We still have the simple stage and the same main characters: Seppel and Gretel, Kasperle's friends, and Grandma. These puppets are in most of the stories. Other traditional Kasperle puppets are: the robber, the crocodile, the wizard, the princess, the prince, the king and the queen.

Our Kasperle Puppet Theater is an interactive puppet theater, which means Kasperle or the other puppets ask questions and the children can answer or give advice. Kasperle is always in the beginning of the story even if we play fairy tales. Our Kasperle is modern, he is exposed to all things that our children are exposed to. Kasperle is as old as the children who are watching and so are Gretel and Seppel. Our puppets are hand puppets. No other kinds of puppets, either Rod puppets or Marionettes, are as close to the puppeteer as hand puppets. You are really in the puppet and so you can express your self through the puppet. For children, hand puppets are the easiest puppets to use. I am always amazed how they can express themselves through the hand puppet, or how they are able to build stories with the help of these puppets.

Puppet Theater is magic and also real, the child can see us as puppeteers in the beginning of the show in front of the stage with our puppets on our hands. They can see that it is us who are moving the puppets, this takes the fear away for little children. The children are then ready and open for the magic of the story and they can imagine that the puppets are a little bit alive.

I write the stories in a way that we don't have any long scene changes. I remember that I did not like that as a child at all, it interrupted the story. We change the scenes while we are playing.

After seeing the Kasperle Puppet Theater play, children may want to start their own puppet theater. For a lot of children it is very hard to tell their own feelings to an adult. With their puppet play they can express their feelings without risking saying it themselves. As an adult, watch their puppet play and it will tell you their story.

We hope we can be part of finding old ways to entertain our children in a time where we have all kinds of technical things like radio, TV, and computers. I know there are already computers who are able to talk to you, but I hope children will look forward to talk to Kasperle.