Czech Puppet Theatre

Puppetry here grew out of travelling showmen who carried carved marionettes between villages in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, playing Faust, knightly tales and comic pieces in Czech at a time when the language was rarely heard on the larger stages. Family theatres kept it alive at home, and in the twentieth century the pair Spejbl and Hurvinek, created by Josef Skupa, made puppets a national household act rather than a rural curiosity. UNESCO lists the puppetry of Czechia and Slovakia as intangible heritage. Today it runs on two tracks: children's theatres and a serious festival scene in Czech, and a marionette opera aimed squarely at visitors in Prague.

What's there

• Carved marionettes - jointed limewood figures on strings, controlled from a bridge above the stage.
• Spejbl and Hurvinek - the father and son pair that made puppets a national act.
• The Chrudim collection - a museum of puppetry with figures, sets and marionette theatres.
• Marionette opera in Prague - Don Giovanni staged with strings, running for decades.

When to go

Evening performances run year round, with matinees for children at weekends. Chrudim holds an annual puppetry festival in early summer that draws amateur companies from across the country and is the best place to see the living form. Book the Prague marionette opera ahead in summer; children's theatres often sell out to school groups on weekday mornings.

Good to know

The shows sold hardest to visitors are the weakest end of the tradition: the same opera night after night, worn staging and visitor pricing. Most marionettes in Old Town shops are factory goods imported from elsewhere, not carved locally, and the difference in price is large. The serious work is in Czech, at children's theatres and at Chrudim, and is difficult to follow without the language.

Nearby

Chrudim sits near Pardubice; the Plzen puppet museum is on the main square.