Marionette troupe performs ‘Magic Flute’ in Brendle
By Aaron Bokros
Old Gold and Black Reviewer

While most of us were packing up and securing rides to the airport last week, we missed one of the most unique artistic experiences that has ever been offered on our campus. In the three days leading up to Thanksgiving Day, the world’s premiere marionette troupe gave three performances of its adapted opera, Mozart’s The Magic Flute.
The Salzburg Marionette Troupe, performing as the third installment of the Secrest Artist Series, rolled in the evening of Nov. 19, erected its stage, gave three nights of memorizing shows and packed everything up on Nov. 21 and trucked it all to Green Bay. In those three days, I ran lights for some of the greatest performers I have ever met. Combining the deeply emotive genre of opera with the seemingly exact science of puppetry, our visitors from Austria provided students, faculty and adults with two hours of beautiful performance.

On Nov. 19, a large truck arrived at our loading dock, packed to the gills with aluminum boxes and crates. At 4:30 p.m., we began to unload. In the next two hours, an extremely efficient team of workers directed the construction of a 14-foot tall contraption. Above, a catwalk provided a place for the operators to stand and manipulate the complex puppets. Below, a small stage was framed by curtains and light, much like a normal theatre, but about one-quarter the size. By 7 p.m., the entire stage, lighting rig, sound package and store of intricate marionettes had been unloaded and set in place for that evening’s 8 p.m. show. Watching from the MainStage light booth as I ran lights, I was privy to one of the most spectacular feats of performance I have ever seen.

The 18-inch tall puppets came to life on the miniature stage. Sometimes, I could not believe that these characters were not real. Their actions were so lifelike; the manipulation of the strings by the puppeteers was masterful, making the puppets come to life in move in very human-like ways. I was amazed!

Over the next two hours, I saw these tiny people act out an abridged version of The Magic Flute. The music was wonderful and seemed to come from a tiny orchestra seated just downstage of the playing space. The puppets ranged from human characters to animals, the most intriguing being a rambunctious duck. I had never seen anything like it.

Of course, the show was not without fault. The spoken dialogue between songs was corny and sometimes hard to follow. I attribute this to the translation from German to English. Also, some people in the audience became bored with the German songs that they could not understand. These gripes aside, the performance of the puppets was enough to keep one occupied. At one point, there were at least 20 different puppets on the stage, with two puppets to one puppeteer.

It was also amazing to me that the people who I had helped construct the stage were also the puppeteers. This group was so efficient and professional, with each person knowing what they were supposed to do every second of the day. This is due to two reasons: first, they have been doing this for years and they could probably do it in their sleep, and second, as the technical director said to me, “Sooner done, sooner beer!”
As soon as the set was complete, a round of beers was brought out from the cases that had been packed in a crate on the truck. I can’t argue with that work ethic.
My three-day experience with the Salzburg Marionette Troupe further emphasized what I already knew; this university provides us with some of the best cultural entertainment that is available in the world. We are privileged to host events such as these and all of each one of us should take the time to enhance our college experience with such wonderful artistic endeavors.