!!!Kasperl

Kasperl, originally a comic character in a play created by the 
Viennese comedian J. J.  La Roche around 1770, originating from 
the Baroque comic character of  Hanswurst. The audience made the 
Kasperl its spokesman and loved to identify with him. After La Roche 
had begun to perform in the  Leopoldstaedter Theater in 1781 the 
theatre was also called "Kasperl-Theater"; the entrance fee was 34 
Kreuzer and the coin of this denomination was popularly referred to as 
"Kasperl". In the 19%%sup th/%  century the Kasperl theatre 
became the traditional form of  Puppet Theatre. The central figure of 
these puppet shows was a hand-operated glove puppet representing a 
funny character with a rather robust sense of humour. Since the 
beginning of the 20%%sup th/%  century the Kasperl theatre has 
also been used in schools and kindergartens.

!Literature
G. Gugitz, Der weiland Kasperl (Johann La Roche), 1920; M. 
Schedler, Der K., das Kasperle, die Kasperei, in: idem, Schlachtet die 
blauen Elefanten, 1973; J. Hein, Das Wiener Volkstheater, 1978.


%%language
[Back to the Austrian Version|AEIOU/Kasperl|class='wikipage austrian']
%%

[{FreezeArticle author='AEIOU' template='Lexikon_1995_englisch'}]
[{ALLOW view All}][{ALLOW comment All}][{ALLOW edit FreezeAdmin}]