Hänneschen-Theater (, ) is a traditional

puppetry Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a perform ...

-theatre in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. It was established in the year 1802. The stage is situated in a building on ''Eisenmarkt'' in downtown Cologne. The pieces are set in Knollendorf, a fictional village somewhere in the outskirts of Cologne. The popular puppets represent fictional characters who embody typical traits of cologne people, so ''Tünnes'' and ''Schäl'', ''Hänneschen'' and ''Bärbelchen'', as well as other unique characters. In addition to the ever-changing pieces that are staged for adults and children, the puppet shows are also an important part of the

Cologne Carnival The Cologne Carnival (german: Kölner Karneval) is a carnival that takes place every year in Cologne, Germany. Traditionally, the "fifth season" (carnival season) is declared open at 11 minutes past 11 on the 11th of the 11th month November. Th ...

. The carnival puppet session is each year a loving parody of a conventional Carnival session.

Puppets

Two of the more popular puppets are (). The name ''Tünnes'' is the Rheinish form of

Anthony Anthony or Antony is a masculine given name, derived from the '' Antonii'', a ''gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descendants of Anton, ...

Antonius Antonius is a masculine given name, as well as a surname. Antonius is a Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Latin, Norwegian, and Swedish name used in Greenland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, part of the Republic of Karelia, Estonia, Belgium, Netherlands, ...

. Tünnes is good natured and has a rural, farmer-type of common sense and cleverness. Schäl can refer to the squinted eyes of the two figures or also a term meaning two-faced or iniquitous in the Kölsch dialect. Schäl is skinnier than Tünnes and wears a tailcoat. Christoph Winters, the founder of the first Cologne Hänneschen puppet theater, introduced Tünnes to the ensemble in 1803. Schäl was introduced in 1847 in a competing theater run by Franz Millewitsch, an ancestor of actor

Willy Millowitsch Willy Millowitsch (, ; 8 January 1909 – 20 September 1999) was a German stage and TV actor and the director of the ''Volkstheater Millowitsch'' in Cologne. Early life Millowitsch was born in Cologne, Rhine Province. His parents were Peter ...

. Millewitsch placed the sly figure of Schäl with the good-natured Tünnes, clearly a nudge against his clever competitor Winters.

References

External links

* Theatres in Cologne Puppet theaters 1802 establishments in the Holy Roman Empire {{NorthRhineWestphalia-struct-stub