English: Short Info

In the midst of the artistic atmosphere of Düsseldorf’s Carlstadt, in the magnificent Palais Wittgenstein on Bilker Straße, the Düsseldorf Marionettes have found their home. The intimate theatre with its 98 seats is just across the romantic inner courtyard. An ensemble of magicians and humans, beasts and devils, the queen of the night and Dr. Faust welcomes the visitor and takes him away to a realm of fantasy.
However, those who expect light, shallow entertainment or cute children’s theatre are wrong here. Amongst the more than 500 puppets waiting in the basement for their next performance, you will look for Punch and Judy in vain. The aim of the 8 persons forming the theatre’s team is, on the contrary, to stage adults’ plays with demanding contents, an excellent artistic direction and highly professional technical equipment.

Depending on the production, these also appeal to children and adolescents. The cooperation with well-known authors, producers and composers gives ever-new impulses. The aim is not to play human theatre in miniature but utilize fully, with much resourcefulness and poetic charm, the special possibilities offered by the puppet theatre. Five players on three bridges move the marionettes on their strings that are up to 2 meters long. In some productions, however, the players are visibly standing on stage, holding their puppets on short strings.

Almost everything that can be seen on stage is produced in the well-equipped workshops of the theatre. The figures, props and decorations are made by the members of the ensemble according to the design of the theatre’s director who himself effects the sculpturing.

Every year the marionette theatre gives about 230 performances in its own house. International tours have made the Düsseldorf Marionetten-Theater famous far beyond the city’s borders.