Kasperltheater Trollmann

A Kasperltheater is a traditional children’s puppet show known throughout the German-speaking world. Its main protagonist is Kasperl (also spelled Kasper or Kasperle), a character with origins in Pulcinella of the Italian Commedia dell’Arte, much like Mr Punch of the English Punch and Judy show.

The theater shown here belongs to the Trollmann family and is a fixture at the Auer Dult, the Oktoberfest, and other fun fairs and folk festivals in and around Munich. For many decades, the show was run by Ludwig Trollmann. Born in 1934 into a family of carny folks, or fairground entertainers, little Ludwig started his career as the “ghost with the bedsheet” in his grandfather’s haunted house. He discovered his love for the Kasperltheater when helping out at “Kasperl Schmid”. From around the mid-1970s, he started making a name for himself as “Kasperl von der Au”. Not only did he build the theater and design the puppets himself; he also wrote the stories – in the Bavarian dialect – and acted as the puppeteer. Over the years, he made countless children laugh.  As recently as ten years ago, he was still performing himself. Ludwig Trollmann passed away on Christmas Eve 2025 at the age of 91. [Sources: Peter Schinzler, Julian Limmer]

The sign with the family name on the balcony of the gingerbread house uses letterforms from Berthold’s Signal – more specifically, its boldest weight named Block-Signal (1932). The word is assembled from individual wooden letters that are attached to the facade with screws. I wonder if this was a DIY creation or whether such letters were available as a ready-made set from a sign company. After dusk, the name is illuminated by a frame of light bulbs that alternate between red and white.