Permanent
exhibitions:
Floor
II.
The Word on wire and strings
In
many languages, the word "marionette" is a general term
for a puppet. In Czech, a marionette means a puppet on a rod (wire)
or strings. When a rod was used, it was a "royal" puppet
for wandering puppeteers in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries.
Between World War One and Two, at the time of the Renaissance
of the puppet theatre in our country, Czech puppet makers left
the puppet hanging on strings only for easier manoeuvrability
and to make it resemble a live actor as near as possible. With
the exception of the Spejbl and Hurvínek Theatre, marionettes
almost vanished from Czech professional theatres in the 1940's.
It was only the DRAK Theatre that went back to the rod puppet
in the 1960's. This return to "tradition", however,
has a different stage value and has a different implication and
it inspires many other artists. This is demonstrated by our new
exhibition reflecting other international puppet cultures and
traditions.
Floor
II.
Family Puppet Theatre
In the second half of the 19th century the popularity of puppet
theatre led to the growth of family puppet theatres. Puppets and
decorations were made for them in series and a number of plays
were published. Many artists, columnists and men of letters realized
that the influence of puppet theatre could be used for educational
purposes and so puppet theatre was also played at schools. After
1912, Mikoláš Aleš-designed puppets were made and more companies
started to make puppets and decorations which led to yet higher
interest in puppet theatre.The display represents puppets made
in series by the end of the 19th century up till the beginning
of World War Two. Such puppets were used in families or small
theatres.
Floor
III.
Foreign Puppets from the Collection of our Museum
Since the time it was established, our museum has accumulated
a significant number of documents related to puppet theatre from
over seven dozen countries. We are happy to have in our collection
not only examples of European puppeteering but also unique articles
of the shadow theatre of Indonesia, Vietnamese water puppetry,
folk marionettes with faces carved on two sides, a hand puppet
made of thimbles from India, a folklore mask and stick figures
from Ceylon, Chinese finger and shadow puppets, and actors' masks
from the Japanese Nó theatre, and samples of puppetry in Africa
and America. The most interesting articles are on display in our
permanent exhibition.
Floor
III.
Luminescent Theatre
The luminescent Theatre is of Czech origin. It was invented by
Mr. František Tvrdek /1920-2009/. The first performances took
place in 1958 and now the theatre has a tradition of almost forty
years. It has also noted significant success in other countries.
It is based on illuminating puppets and decorations coated with
special paints by means of ultraviolet light. This technique can
be used not only in theatre but also on television.Nowadays Mr.
Tvrdek worked as the head of the "Tvrdek Ultraviolet Show"
group. The permanent exhibition displays samples of his work.
