Alenka in Love. Three Fatties. The Flying Babies. If you think these are merely the names of the latest pop rock groups, you’re missing out on one of the most magical aspects of traditional Czech culture: puppet shows.

During the warm months you can find the wobbly, tall, and surprisingly small traditional puppet theatres – not much larger than a card table – set up on the bumpy grass at country fairs or on the jagged cobblestones in castle courtyards. In winter, the art form heads into the warmth of standard auditoriums in theatre buildings devoted strictly to puppetry. In many Czech homes, whole families (yes, including the grownups) get down on hands and knees and “play” the family’s puppet theatre together, crawling around the wooden or heavy cardboard theatre sets. Even the most august fathers have been observed animating the puppets – often, those handed down from at least grandma and grandpa’s generation – and even squeaking the beloved traditional lines in the falsetto of
the fairy princess.

Right: Scene from “The Flying Babies”

“Mechanical figures” were recorded in the Czech lands as early as 1563, and by the end of the 16th century, Czech audiences enjoyed shows that used marionettes. The first Czech puppet play was written in 1782, and around 1810 a favorite Czech puppet character, Kašpárek, made his first debut. And the tradition has continued ever since.

However, in the Iron Curtain days of the 1960s a newgeneration of Czech puppeteers began a movement, “Theatre of the Third Kind,” which tried to break traditional puppet
theatre out of its familiar box. Bored with puppets manipulated by unseen human gods, this quietly rebellious group came out from behind the curtain to act and sing center stage, right along with the puppets, all of them interacting as the characters in the play.

This September, one of the best-known “Third Kind” puppet theatres, Drak (derived from “dragon”), will celebrate its 50th anniversary. The award-winning Hradec Králové based
threatre company tours all over the Czech Republic, and indeed, the world. “Drak combines original puppets, and drama, along with creative, musical, and movement theatres,” explains director Jana Dražd’áková. “Although Drak has a reputation as a ‘children’s theatre,’ this term is not precise enough. Thanks to our principal director, Josef Kroft, his son, director Jakub Kroft, and composer/actor Jiří Výšohlíd, our theatre has been eliminating age boundaries for a long time. Children get their story and theatre magic, adults get the gags and the humor.”

Left: From the “African Tale”

She says the appeal can best be seen when teenagers come to a performance. “Most of them find themselves in a theatre for the first time – and ten minutes into the performance the cell phones stop blinking and they follow the actors and the story.”

Puppet theatre is a challenging profession. In addition to the usual financial and other stresses common to the performing arts, “Puppet theatre is a ‘fiddly’ job – hard handwork,” says Drak actor Václav Poul. “During one hour we have to say everything.”

You can get a sense of just how creative a typical Drak production is just by reading a plot synopsis [see box on next page]. But the theatre is pushing beyond the bounds of entertainment and again is breaking out of the box, with its “Jump Out of Childhood” project, which speaks openly and in straightforward language to talk to teenagers about
serious topics, according to the Drak director. The company’s “Alenka in Love,” a street romance, uses hip-hop and rock music; a “train station” version of the Bizet opera “Carmen”is entitled “Carmen 20:07”; and the hugely popular “Secret Diary of Adrian Mole” features Abba music – and has already had 120 runs.

In this old art form, the delicate, subtle, yet deep-rooted Czech creativity lives and thrives, still awaiting discovery by a louder audience – and proving that entertainment does not always require headphones.

The Drak Theatre is traditionally on vacation during August and September, but performances start again in Hradec Kralové in October, every Saturday at 3 pm.

The story of “The Flying Babies”
(Premiered 2002)
A balloon is rising up into the air, we are holding on to it by a string and all of a sudden it is gone. It keeps floating up, slowly getting smaller until it completely disappears in the sky. What can you do? Tears don’t help. The heroes of our story are in a similar situation. Instead of moaning and wailing, however, they undertake an adventurous journey to the Planet of Lost Balloons. The age-old dream of flying comes true.