On the Marionette Theater Heinrich von Kleist One evening in the winter of 1801 as I walked in the park, I happened to meet Mr. C— who was engaged as first dancer in the opera, a man very popular with the public. I told him, in passing, that I had seen him several times at an outdoor marionette theater that had been set up in the market square to entertain the common-folk with songs and dances and short dramatic burlesques.