Csodamalom Bábszínház (Magic Mill Puppet Theatre) is a

puppet theater A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in ancient Greece. There ...

Miskolc Miskolc ( , ; ; Czech language, Czech and ; ; ; ) is a city in northeastern Hungary, known for its heavy industry. With a population of 161,265 as of 1 January 2014, Miskolc is the List of cities and towns in Hungary#Largest cities in Hungary, ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. It was formed by

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the ...

Tibor Korzsény in 1986 as an amateur company. The name "Csodamalom" (Magic Mill) preserves the name of Fábián Mill, the company that once operated there. The theatre was semi-official since 1988 and became official in 1992. The theater maintains 50 plays in repertoire and premiers two or three shows/year, usually a classical

folk tale Oral literature, orature, or folk literature is a genre of literature that is spoken or sung in contrast to that which is written, though much oral literature has been transcribed. There is no standard definition, as anthropologists have used va ...

. Uniquely in Hungary, they play

musical Musical is the adjective of music. Musical may also refer to: * Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance * Musical film Musical film is a film genre in which songs by the Character (arts), charac ...

puppet shows, including puppet-pantomimes staged for adults, such as ''

Pictures at an Exhibition ''Pictures at an Exhibition'' is a piano suite in ten movements, plus a recurring and varied Promenade theme, written in 1874 by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. It is a musical depiction of a tour of an exhibition of works by architect and ...

'' by

Mussorgsky Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky (; ; ; – ) was a Russian composer, one of the group known as "The Five (composers), The Five." He was an innovator of Music of Russia, Russian music in the Romantic music, Romantic period and strove to achieve a ...

, ''

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'' by

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

and ''

Carmina Burana ''Carmina Burana'' (, Latin for "Songs from Benediktbeuern" 'Buria'' in Latin is a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces are mostly bawdy, irreveren ...

'' by Orff.Klára, Dobos, and Gábor, Mikita, and Béla, GYarmati. ''Csodamalom Bábszínház, Miskolc 2007...''. Miskolc, Redon4color ltd. 2007. p4-5.

History

In 1947 László Bod, later the director of

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

State Puppet Theatre, tried to establish the genre in Miskolc. In the middle 1980s, in the building known as Fábián Mill, two groups started work. The first to perform there was a troupe led by János Czikora until 1989. The other group was the Csodamalom Puppet Theatre established in 1986 by Tibor Korzsény, who was a member of the State Puppet Theatre before, and an artist of the Tokaj Varieté. The first performance was on 26 September 1986 under Korzsényi. It was an adaptation of ''

Hansel and Gretel "Hansel and Gretel" (; ) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'' (KHM 15). Hansel and Gretel are siblings who are abandoned in a forest and fall into the hands of a witch ...

''. The artists, including Anna Molnár, Valéria Egerszegi, Aszterisz Pacadisz were members of the Tokaj Varieté, except Ildikó Gyürek. Following this, Korzsényi gathered young people interested in the genre. In September, 1990 the higher education of puppeteers was launched with twelve students, under the professional supervision of the State Puppet Theatre. The first shows' puppets were designed by Vera Bródy, and made in the workshop of the State Puppet Theatre by applied artist Emőke Szabó. The scenery was made in the workshop of the National Theatre of Miskolc under the direction of Attila Veres. Accompanying music was Miskolc, music teacher János Zoller and organist László Csabai. The group soon outgrew its original location. In 1988 the theatre company, then the amateur puppetry of the City Cultural Centre, received a group operational permit from the National Philharmony. From 1992 the company was granted a license to work as professional theatre, and relocated to the building of the former Studio Theatre in Kossuth Street, where they established their own workshop.

Techniques

In the beginning they carried on the traditions of the State Puppet Theatre playing mainly classic puppet shows for young children. Later, the group's professional activities became characterized by its variety of techniques and genres. Among others the group put up plays based on

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

genesis legends, but their series featuring traditional European fai puppet-show stories, or the stories of

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

n cartoons formerly very popular in Hungary. They eventually built up a unique repertoire. Beside hand or glove puppets they make Wayang puppets, and amongst the flat-puppets cut out from paper and installed onto posts,

marionettes A marionette ( ; ) is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by ...

. Puppets in the King Mátyás tales are moved with a Sicilian marionette technique, while objects transformed into real actors in ''Rosszcsont Peti'' (Naughty Peter).

Personnel

Directors

*Judit Juhász: art director *Erzsébet M.Németh: director *Mária Jákfalvi, Labodáné: financial director

Puppeteers

*Gáspár Zsolt Hajdú *Ildikó Heiszmann, Nívó-Prize puppeteer *Zsolt Klim *Szabolcs Károlyi, puppeteer trainee *Laura Kulcsár, puppeteer trainee *Bernadett Láng *Edit Tar *Gábor Tulipán * Tibor Oláh

Workshop

*Ildikó Juhász, Barnáné: painter, puppet- and set designer *Laczy, Barna: creative co-worker *Iboly Sipos, Barnáné: administrator *Zsolt Méhes: stagecraftician *Zsoltné Dr. Máthé: janitor *Sándorné Mikle: seater *Endre Papp: repairman *Zoltán Polacsek: decorator *István Szabó:decorator *Norbert Szarka: decorator *Lajos Veres: organiser *Lászlóné Vizsolyi: cloakroom attendant *Csba István Újvári: scenic and puppet designer *György Zábrátzky: scene maker

References

{{coord missing, Hungary Puppet theaters Puppetry in Hungary Tourist attractions in Miskolc Buildings and structures in Miskolc Theatres in Hungary