Masters of illusion

Alex Coolman

When audience members come backstage after a performance of the Salzburg

Marionette Theater, there’s one question that they frequently ask.

“How does the puppet look so tall?”

The marionettes, which are only a couple feet high, seem to grow over the

course of the performance -- until they are towering figures, depicting

people as large as life.

The answer, said Gretl Aicher, the theater’s artistic director, is that

the characters grow in the imagination of the audience.

“The illusion of the marionettes is so strong that the people immediately

forget that they’re marionettes,” Aicher said. Though they don’t actually

change physical size, they swell with the drama and magic of the

performance.

The Salzburg theater comes to Orange County Performing Arts Center

tonight through Sunday in puppet “operas” of “The Marriage of Figaro,”

“Don Giovanni” and “The Magic Flute.”

The performances are acted entirely by complex marionettes, whose actions

coordinate with abridged recordings of the operas.

And though the operatic characters dance on 6-foot-long strings, Aicher

says the illusion the marionettes are actually singing the show’s lyrics

is powerful.

“The lighting and the scenery are good, and we have excellent voices on

the recording,” she said. “People think that they’re in a big opera house

with an excellent performance.”

If the dozen members of the troupe who work on each opera are skilled at

casting a spell over their audiences, that’s because they’ve had a lot of

practice. The Salzburg has been around since 1913, when it was founded by

Anton Aicher, Gretl’s grandfather. The traditions of the puppeteering art

have been passed down through the Aicher family ever since.

The technique is not something Aicher takes lightly.

“The control is like an instrument you play,” she explained. “I train the

puppeteers myself. I train them for two years, and then at two years I

tell them, ‘You have to learn 10 years, and then you can start as a good

puppeteer.’ ”

Turning a lifeless marionette into a vibrant Figaro or a winsome Papageno

takes some serious dexterity.

The figures are manipulated with an instrument called an airplane

control, explained Jim Gamble, a Los Angeles-based professional puppeteer

who first saw the Salzburg perform in the 1960s. Strings running from the

“wingtips” of the control mechanism attach to the head, while lines

running from another crossbar manipulate the shoulders. Other strings

connect to the stomach and the figure’s back.

There isn’t any way for the puppets to change facial expressions, but the

richness of the action that the puppeteers manage to create is

remarkable, Gamble said.

“It’s the same as if you were watching an opera” by flesh-and-blood

performers, he added. “You don’t really see the individual faces, but you

see the grandiose aspects of the performance.”

For people who have never witnessed an expertly conducted show, it can be

a surprisingly moving experience.

“I was very impressed, 30 or 40 years ago, when I first saw the action”

of the puppets, Gamble recalled. “I was just blown away with what the

marionettes could do. I spent three or four years after that trying to

learn the action.”

The operas are performed without supertitles and may be challenging

viewing for children.

* WHAT: “The Salzburg Marionette Theater”

* WHEN: “The Marriage of Figaro” at 7 p.m. today, “Don Giovanni” at 7

p.m. Saturday, “The Magic Flute” at 2 p.m. Sunday

* WHERE: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive,

Costa Mesa

* COST: $20 to $65

* CALL: (714) 740-7878