Humans as Objects of Trial – Experiments on Humans as a Subject of Puppet Theatre Productions

Abstract

Puppets (or dolls, respectively) are artefacts formed according to the human body but differ in their materiality from the human model. Due to their inviolability puppets are a uniquely suitable means for the reflection on borderline experience. For the theatrical representation of experiments on humans, in particular, puppets prove to be apt instruments for theatre stagings as the boundary between subject and object can be explored – precisely due to the powerful tension between ‘creating life’ and ‘taking life’ imbued in these objects. Different dimensions of experiments on human beings via puppets/dolls on stage are analysed concerning the productions Frankenstein (director: Philipp Stölzl) and F. Zawrel – Erbbiologisch und sozial minderwertig (director: Simon Meusburg, puppets and performance: Nikolaus Habjan).