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This page is about my adventures with a modern marionette troupe.
On the morning of April 19, 2001, I went to the Dallas branch of Le Theatre de Marionette. They are located in NorthPark Mall and are fairly easy to find. The store front is lined with different kinds of puppets and puppet stages; most of the puppets are marionettes. The door is guarded by a large stuffed dragon that seems to act as a mascot or logo, since it can also be found on the Le Theatre website.
When the puppeteers arrived they greeted me and welcomed me backstage. I was not sure that I would have this kind of opportunity so I was very excited. The puppeteers were very friendly and did not try to hide what they did. I found that they make most of their puppets or have them commissioned by artists. The show Cinderella that I would be seeing was outfitted by an artist in Canada. He had made the puppets out of cedar because balsa wood had become hard to come by in Canada. Being made of cedar made the puppets very heavy, especially when you consider that the show runs about 45 minutes. that can be a long time to hold a heavy puppet.
The show was written by John Hartman, the owner of the Dallas branch. The words and songs were all prerecorded and played back during the show. This allowed the puppeteers to not only concentrate on the manipulation of the puppets but to also talk to each other when they needed to.
The sets were an amazing five feet tall. Being backstage made one feel very large. The movement backstage seemed as choreographed as the action on stage. At all times each puppeteer had a place and they were always there. When scenes had to change the ones not manipulating puppets at the time would change the scene.
The puppeteer in charge of Cinderella was amazing. Her skills at puppetry were fine tuned and she made it look very easy. She joined the troupe from the Moscow Theatre where she had learned how to operate all different kinds of puppets.
Before the show one of the puppeteers goes out and does a pre-show. This not only warms up the audience but it acquaints them with marionettes. According to John this is essential since most of their audiences are children who have never seen a puppet and could easily be scared of them. The pre-show was amazing for me because they use on of the trick puppets and show how they can make it do different things. It looks so easy, but I have tried it and it really takes lots of practice.
The play itself was wonderful. It was short yet told the whole story of Cinderella. When I was not watching the puppeteers I was entranced by the way the puppets moved. When it was over I wanted to see the show from the audience's perspective and get the magical feel that they do when they do not see the puppeteers.
After the show the puppets are drawn up by the strings and hung in their places and the scenery is reset for the next show. Everything runs very smoothly and everyone knows what their job is. I was amazed by my visit backstage with this marionette troupe and I look forward to being able to see more of their work not only in the NorthPark Mall location but also at the State Fair of Texas where they take some of the larger marionettes and perform on a larger stage.
Amanda Gross.
Copyright © 2001 by University of North Texas. All rights reserved.
Revised: 27 Aug 2001 10:01:20 -0500
Le Theatre de marionette
Dallas, Texas
A view from backstage
photos courtesy of Le Theatre de Marionette