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83 and Teatret My (Theater Micrometre) have alsogained recognition in this increasingly popular genre.From the year 2000 on, Danish puppet and objecttheatre has expanded into the area of visualperformance through the innovative work of SaraTopsøe Jensen and her theatre, Carte Blanche, whoseartistically acclaimed shows take shadow theatre aswell as puppets and animation into new and excitingrealms. As skillful and promising newcomers, we mayalso reckon the Spiir Produktion (Spiir Production)apuppet company from Århus as well as with AstabastaTeatret (The Astabasta Theater) and Gertrud Exnerfrom Teater Blik (Theater with a View) who waseducated at Thy Teater.Viewed in the totality of Danish theater funding,puppet and animation theatre covers only a smallfraction of the national budget, which is due to thefact that, in Denmark, puppet theatre is mainlydirected towards an audience of children. Somepuppet theatres with permanent companies andplayhouses are state and/or regionally funded, suchas, for example, Det Lille Teater, Jytte Abildstrøm’sTeater, Marionetteatret in Kongens Have andSvalegangen Dukketeater (External Gallery PaperTheater) and Teater Refleksion in Århus. A limitednumber of touring puppet theaters without their ownvenues are funded on a regular basis by the DanishArts Council, through yearly subsidies for production,technical equipment and administration. Otherprofessional puppet theaters are indirectly subsidisedby the unique Danish reimbursement system forchildren’s theater, which gives regional and municipalinstitutions a 50% price reduction when purchasingtheater for children. To be included in thereimbursement system, theater shows must beevaluated and commended by a special committee ofprofessionals.In 2009 Hans Hartvich-Madsen left Thy Theater andbecame the leader of the Puppet and AnimationDepartment of the Developing Center for Stage Art inOdsherred where in 2011 a 2-year experimentaleducation project in the field of puppetry was grantedby the Ministry of Culture. This project has receivedfunds to be continued. Hans Hartvich-Madsenfounded First Hand Theater with Külli Palmsaar in2009 – the theater has travelled in Germany andUNIMA DanmarkSweden with the interactive performances‘Wunderland’ (Wonderland) and ‘Alice’.Denmark also takes part in the internationalregistration and promotion project, Road of Puppetry,which was introduced by the European Commission.Several new puppet players are starting out: AstridKjær Jensen was educated in Berlin and has awonderful performance ‘Lilith’, where she acts on herown body with palm puppets, Katrine Karlsen, whowas educated in Norway performs with her TeaterGraenseloes (Theater with no limits), Sofie Krog isperforming for adults with her free style puppetsacting in ‘Diva’ and Ida Tjalve, who was educated inLondon, England, works with shadow plays and otherkinds of puppetry.In the last 5 years the tendency has pointed towardsmore puppet theatre for adults; Rolf Søborg Hansenwas the puppetmaker and played in ‘Sally StinaSkriget’ (The Cry of Sally Stina) and, directed byCatherine Poher, in ‘På den anden side’ (On the otherside) at Det Kongelige Teater (The Royal Theater), aswell as in ‘King Lear’, a number of plays treating thetheme Alcohol and a wonderful staging of Odysseen(The Oddyssey) at Bådteatret.‘Non-Stop’ and ‘Brudstykker af min MarionetdukkesBekendelser’ (Fragments of my puppet’s confessions)– both with puppets made by Carl Press and played byPeder Holm Johansen - were staged at Plan-B Teatret(plan-B theater). And within the last 5 yearsCopenhagen has seen two fine festivals devotedentirely to performances for adults.The main organisation for puppetry is still UNIMADanmark and it receives a yearly amount from the ArtsCouncil. Denmark is also the host of a number ofpuppet theatre festivals of which the most noteworthytake place in Copenhagen, Silkeborg and Bornholmannually or biannually.Bibliography:Jensen, Carsten: Intet spil for galleriet. (No playing tothe gallery). The Association of Children’s Theatres,Copenhagen 1994Jensen, Carsten: For det største i de mindste. (For thebiggest in the smallest). The Association of Children’s10
Theatres, Copenhagen 2004.Livbjerg, Birgitte: Dukker i Danmark. (Puppets inDenmark). Dukketeater i Norden. Oslo 1974.Lund, Jette: Dukketeatret i dansk børneteater 1969-1989. (Puppet theater in Danish Childrens Theater).Institute of Theatrical Science. Copenhagen University1992.Lühmann, Ruth: Marionetkunsten i Danmark.(Puppetry in Denmark) Kunst. Copenhagen 1952.MESTER JAKELThe traditional popular puppet in Denmark, MesterJakel, arrived here around 1790.In all probability he came from Northern France withtravelling puppeteers. The origin of the name is notcompletely clear, but according to Svend Smith it mustbe regarded as a Danicisation of Maître Jacques, whowas one of the local puppet heroes in NorthernFrance.According to police licences, Mester Jakel shows wereheld from 1795 in a tent next to the potter’s workshopby Kirsten Piils Kilde (Kirsten Piils Well) atDyrehavsbakken in Klampenborg –being the worlds’oldest amusement park not far from Copenhagen. Atfirst, the pots played a role in the Jakel shows, beingused instead og Mester Jakel’s stick and broken duringthe performance. In 1863 the tent was replaced by awooden booth painted in the traditional Danishcolours - red and white. The booth, in different forms,remained there until 1983. It was equipped with astationary stage and was large enough for thepuppeteer to be completely hidden from the public.Mester Jakel is played as two-hand comedies withglove puppets. The cast includes his wife Rosalia, theJew, the Recruiting Officer, the Doctor, the Wizard, theDevil, the Dog and the Sausage. The plot is absolutelyfixed, with elements of repetition and greatlysimplified characterisation. The comedies consist of anumber of acts in which the hero – Mester Jakel – isconfronted by the other players, one by one. Most ofthe acts end in fights, which the hero, in accordancewith the convention, always wins. Mester Jakel is acomic character, but he is also cunning anddisrespectful, and his faithful henchman is his stickUNIMA Danmarkwith which he batters his partners and opponents. Hisvoice is shrill and penetrating, but without use ofswazzle and he demonstrates his invincibility withimmense verve. In the oldest comedies, Mester Jakel’scostume consisted of trousers, sweater and a red hatwith tassel on it. He was sometimes equipped withlegs that could be thrown up over the ramp or kick. Hisfeatures were not so caricatured as they became lateron, as Mester Jakel turned into a far more grotesquefigure with a big, long nose, jutting jaw, protuberanteyes and a wide, ferocious grin – wearing a jester’scostume complete with bells on the hat – not unlikethe English Punch. The words largely came fromGerman puppet comedies, although the repertoire stillincludes the “Madame Rosette” comedy, whosetheme has roots in antiquity. The words, with someimprovisation, were based on fixed scenarios andwere handed down from generation to generationuntil about 1900, when they were written down. Theythereby became far more stereotyped, losing theoriginality that had been guaranteed by the custom ofimprovisation.For more than 200 years Mester Jakel’s onlypermanent home was at Dyrehavsbakken with thefunfair’s performers, who kept him alive. For manyyears, Mester Jakel has been played by Pierrot – andthus also by Erico Lund, who was Pierrot from 1963 till1983 and who, besides playing these two figures, alsomanaged to bring fresh life to the comedies and addseveral new ones. When he died there was no one totake over the Mester Jakel part until in 1997 whereKurt Flemming started as Pierrot. He very soon aftertook up the tradition and now he plays the oldcomedies in his new red and white booth severaltimes a day during the summer. In 2001 Thy Teater(Theater in Thy) staged ‘Jakel og pølserne’ (Jakel andthe sausages) re-written and directed by HansHartvich-Madsen. The performance was played morethan 200 times in Denmark as well as abroad duringthe following 8 years. In 2003 Marionetteatret iKongens Have in Copenhagen (The Puppet Theater inKings’ Gardens) staged ‘Jakels fataliteter’ (Jakels’fatalities) in an updated version.So Mester Jakel is fortunately still very much alive andkicking…..11
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