Retrieved via the Wayback Machine. Originally posted by Dilip D’souza
German puppet show at the KGAF, what do I tell you. The Theater am Faden of Stuttgart consists of a wife-husband team: Helga Brehme and Karl Rettenbacher. Cheery Santa Claus types, they put a lot of hard work into a show that I don’t know how many of us could have appreciated.
Helga kicked off by telling us (in English) briefly about the story, and that they make the puppets themselves, and that since they are made of wood, they can’t learn any languages apart from German, and so the show would be entirely in German. Now I don’t believe she truly wanted to blame the puppets, poor things. She did say, “maybe some of you will understand German.”
At which point, Karl let out an agonized yell in German: “Helgaaaa!”
And the show began. I did my best to understand the story, and I’m going to tell it to you here in case you missed it which you probably did.
There’s a jester, and a shepherd who plays the flute. The king makes his entrance oddly; he sits in his throne with his back to the audience while the action, whatever the action is, is raging all about him. But when he turns around, the first thing he says, very very loudly, is (and the King’s lines are done by Helga) (and this is in German of course): “Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Sheeeeee!”
At which point, a huge cawing erupts above our heads: crows in the picturesque branches take off. Whether in response to the King, and whether they caw in German, and whether this is part of the show, I’m not sure still.
There’s suddenly a backdrop showing several sheep. The shepherd struts about, and a small duck makes an appearance, flapping its wings.
The King says, regally: “Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Sheeeeee!”
The crows go nuts again.
Without warning, the duck attacks the shepherd, flying at him manically again and again. He stands there stoically. The King says his line again, and the crows caw once more. A bear appears, and spends the first several minutes of his time on stage stretching his limbs, as cats do. The shepherd is still standing there stoically.
Without warning, the bear attacks the shepherd, rushing at him manically, the shepherd ducks (no pun) out of the way, the bear charges again. Suddenly the bear is sitting on the shepherd. Suddenly the shepherd is sitting on the bear. Then they both fall to the floor in exhaustion. After a few seconds, the bear rises onto his hind legs and the shepherd starts playing his flute. This captivates the bear, and you wonder why the shepherd did not think of it before, during the assaults. The bear dances and jumps, then stretches, then stands on his forelegs for a long time, bopping his butt to the flute.
The shepherd goes over and nuzzles the bear.
The King says: “Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Sheeeeee!”
The crows are silent. Perhaps they have emigrated to Siberia.
The jester comes in, and says “Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!”.
A court minister falls back in alarm, the shepherd comes in again followed by an insipid princess, and then the duck again. The duck flies repeatedly at the minister, who falls down again. He gets up and makes some karate moves, but the duck drives him off the stage and then settles on the King’s head. Then in the princess’s arms. This endears the princess to the shepherd, who looks at the princess tenderly. The duck sits on her ankles, and they exit stage right.
With much guttural snorting, two porcupines turn up, butt first, and start shedding quills in excitement. The shepherd clings in fright to a tree. They leap at him manically, while making more guttural sounds and whistles.
The duck shows up. By then the porcupines are asleep. The duck stands on one, then gets tangled in their quills, then kisses the shepherd. This inspires the shepherd to play the flute. The porcupines give up their hostility and, like the bear, begin dancing.
The jester starts a manic dance, complete with splits in the air, in front of an impassive King. Ends it on his head, which brings forth from the King a particularly emphatic “Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Sheeeeee!”
The crows are back from Siberia, because they erupt again overhead.
The minister plays the flute and gives it to the princess, who says “beautiful flute!” (Someone next to me translated this one line).
And suddenly the shepherd is back, with 4 nasty snakes after him manically. The jester arrives, cackles in front of the snakes, screams when they turn on him, runs away, comes back, cackles again, runs away again . Yet again, the shepherd finally picks up his flute and begins to play, which turns the snakes all coochie-coo and they sway about ecstatically.
At this point, a strong Kala Ghoda gust of wind knocks over the entire backdrop.
The King says, “Ho! Ho! Ho! Ho! Sheeeeee!” He falls over on his back. Miraculously, he levitates in that position and swings energetically through the air.
Crows caw in alarm.
The shepherd and princess go off together, then return and do a dance with much kissing. The duck returns, leaps about, does a dance all his own. And the bear, with the jester on his back! And the snakes! And the two porcupines! In their joy, they knock the snakes off the stage. And the minister arrives, but the duck chases him off.
The End
Comments
Comment by Shivam Vij on February 8, 2006 @ 5:58 pm
The great Indian middle ‘class’.
