Figuren Theater Tübingen

Germany

Salto. Lamento

MUSEU DA MARIONETA

6, 7 May at 9.30pm

Performer and puppets: Frank Soehnle Music: rat’n’X (Johannes Frisch e Stefan Mertin) Direction: Enno Podehl, Karin Ersching and Frank Soehnle Costumes: Sabine Ebner Lighting design: Karin Ersching Assistant choreographer: Karin Ould Chih Photographs Klaus Kühn Technique: Mixed For audiences over: M/12 Time: 65 min. Language: Without words

A drawer opens… Secret messages escape and lure creatures – half man half beast, like Centaurs. They are forcing their way into the back rooms of memory where they meet with a multifaceted death – effortlessly, dancing, almost skipping. Reflecting the artistic tradition of the Dance of the Dead from medieval iconography, a ring of poetic and bizarre metamorphoses unfolds. A trio of music, puppet and dance.

WHS - Ville Walo & Kalle Hakkarainen

Finland

KESKUSTELUJA (Discussions)

TEATRO MARIA MATOS

7, 8 May at 9.30pm

Collective creation Performers: Ville Walo and Kalle Hakkarainen Music: Kimmo Pohjonen and Samuli Kosminen/Kluster Costumes and set: Anne Jämsä Lighting design: Marianne Nyberg Light operator: Ainu Palmu Sound design: Heikki Isso-Ahola Sound operator: Joonas Pehrsson Video: Kalle Hakkarainen Silent movie: “Aelita”, dir. Yakov Protazanov, Soviet Union, 1924 Production: WHS, Kiasma Théâtre, Cirko-Centre for New Circus, Association for New Juggling and Centre des Arts du Cirque de Basse-Normandie Diffusion: Ay-Roop Technique: Objects, circus, vídeo, magic and dance For audiences over: M/12 Time: Aprox. 65 min. Language: Without words

A New Circus performance about communication and the lack of it. Visual appeal of live image, surrealistic situations and plastic movement of juggling. The modern and highly interesting Finnish new circus group of juggler Ville Walo and magician Kalle Hakkarainen brings already their third premiere together, under the title Keskusteluja (in English, discussions). The performance is focused on the theme of communication in relation to juggling, magic and video. In the performance circus and video projections also communicate with the fresh music of varying tones composed for the performance by Kimmo Pohjonen / Samuli Kosminen Kluster.

Bonecos de Santo Aleixo

Portugal

Auto da Criação do Mundo

MUSEU DA MARIONETA

8 May at 9.30pm | 9 May at 3pm

Puppeteers: Ana Meira, Gil Salgueiro Nave, Isabel Bilou, José Russo and Vítor Zambujo Musical accompaniment: Gil Salgueiro Nave Technique: Rod puppets For audiences over: M/6 Time: 70 min. Language: Portuguese

These traditional Alentejan puppets seem to have their origin in the village which gave them their name. They are puppets operated from above by rods, similar to the great marionettes of southern Italy and northern Europe, but tiny – between twenty and forty centimeters in height, and made of wood and cork, dressed in costumes which, as in the regular theatre, enable the characters in the story to be identified. The “dynasty” of these puppets dates from the middle of the nineteenth century, but the oldest references is dated in the eighteen century. The puppets that are seen today belonged to the Talhinhas family for about three decades until, in 1967, they were brought to the attention of a wider cultural world by Michel Giacometti and Henrique Delgado. The Bonecos de Santo Aleixo, property of the Évora Cultural Centre, are operated by a “family” comprising professional actors, which guarantees the permanent authenticity of the performers, and thus ensures the continuity of this expression of traditional Alentejan art.

Toni Rumbau

Spain

A Manos Llenas

MUSEU DA MARIONETA

10, 11 May at 9.30pm

Creation, direction and puppeteer: Toni Rumbau Puppets: Mariona Masgrau Music: Octavi Rumbau Puppets choreography: Margarida Carbonell Collaboration, photographs and drawings: Jorge Raedó Puppet costumes: Carmen González Other props and costumes: Núria Mestres Shadow screen: Raquel Bonillo Technical assistant: José Menchero Dramaturgy assistants: Rebecca Simpson e Luca Valentino Production: La Fanfarra S.L. Technique: Hand puppets and shadows For audiences over: M/6 Time: 50 min. Language: Spanish

Toni Rumbau has created a new performance for hand and shadow puppets for audiences of all ages.

Following in the wake of his latest work, from his now classic “Two Hands”, through “Double and Shadow” and the opera “Euridice and the Puppets of Chairon”, in this new show the author-puppeteer brings together traditional, popular puppet theatre and an extremely visual language of shadows, hands and objects.

Teatro de Marionetas do Porto

Portugal

Wonderland

TEATRO MARIA MATOS

11, 12 May at 9.30pm

Direction and scenography: João Paulo Seara Cardoso Performers: Edgard Fernandes, Sara Henriques, Sérgio Rolo and Shirley Resende Puppets: Júlio Vanzeler Music: Roberto Neulichedl Songs lyrics: Maria de Noronha English translation: John Havelda Costumes: Pedro Ribeiro Movement coordination: Isabel Barros Lighting design: António Real and Margarida Alves Production: Sofia Carvalho Production assistant: Pedro Miguel Castro Direction assistant: Pedro Ribeiro Light and sound operation: Margarida Alves Subtitles operation: Pedro Castro Construction workshop: Rui Pedro Rodrigues (coordination), Inês Coutinho (painting) and Nuno Valdemar Guedes Costumes: Cláudia Ribeiro (coordination), Celeste Marinho (master seamstress), Esperança Sousa (seamstress), Catarina Barros (props coordination), Patrícia Mota (props assistant) Scenography construction: Américo Castanheira/Tudo-Faço Stage photography: Susana Neves Illustration: Júlio Vanzeler Projected images: Photographs from Alice Liddell by Lewis Carroll; Paintings by Claude Monet (manipulated) Trainee: Ângela Ribeiro Technique: Mixed For audiences over: M/12 Time: 60 min. Language: Portuguese and English Co-production: Teatro de Marionetas do Porto e Cine-Teatro Constantino Nery Company sponsored by: Ministério da Cultura/Direcção-Geral das Artes

Inspired in Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carrol.

Twelve years later, the Teatro de Marionetas do Porto returns to the fantastic universe peopled with nonsense of the Anglican deacon, celebrated photographer and professor of mathematics at Oxford, Charles Dodgson, better known as Lewis Carroll. This time the show is for an adult audience and the characters of the Alice stories are free from the language game and emerge themselves in an oniric dimension. Characters who are like playing cards that Lewis Carroll play unconsciously in his game of love with Alice.

Circolando

Portugal

Paisagens em Trânsito

MUSEU DA MARIONETA

12 May at 9.30pm

Creation and performer: Patrick Murys Direction and dramaturgy collaboration: André Braga and Cláudia Figueiredo Music: Luís Pedro Madeira and Isabelle Fuchs Construction: Sandra Neves (props, puppets and costumes), Carlos Pinheiro with the collaboration of Nuno Guedes (scenography) Ligthing design: Cristóvão Cunha with the collaboration of Pedro Fonseca Special acknowledgements: Luciano Amarelo (actor direction) Light and sound operation: Pedro Fonseca Costumes made by: Alexandra Barbosa Production: Ana Carvalhosa (direction) and Cláudia Santos Photographs: João Vladimiro and Stratos Ntontsis Acknowledgements: Leonor Barata and Léonard Executive production: Corropio, Lda Technique: Mixed For audiences over: M/8 Time: 55 min. Co-production: Câmara Municipal do Fundão and Moagem – Cidade do Engenho e das Artes Company sponsored by Ministério da Cultura/Direcção-Geral das Artes

On a lobby of an imaginary train station, there is a man with a lot of suitcases. A man without destiny with a story hidden in his luggage. The train does not arrive. Desperate, the man opens a suitcase after another, revealing pieces of his life. Bells, combat uniforms, straw, soil, memory landscapes gradually discovered at the bottom of each suitcase. The railway line connects the dots of the history. It starts where it ends. Is he a real traveler? The driver of the train? The train guard? Characters who help us to build our own train and move on. Developing the puppetry and object fields, the physical theatre, the theme of exile appears on this solo as a center of interrogations.

Alfa Theatre

Czech Republic

The Three Musketeers

MUSEU DA MARIONETA

13, 14, 15 May at 9.30pm 16 May at 5pm

Direction: Tomáš Dvo*ák Scenography: Tomáš Dvořák, Ivan Nesveda and Pavel Vašíček Set: Ivan Nesveda Songs lyrics: Blanka Josephová-Luňáková Music: Michal Vaniš Performers: Martin Bartůšek, Petr Borovský, Martina J. Hartmannová, Bohumil Holý, Blanka Josephová-Luňáková, Robert Kroupar, Matěj Siegl and Vladimír Sosna Technicians: Filip Bosák e Vlastimil Vorda Production: Tomáš Froyda (director), Gabriela Darebná (production direction) Technique: Hand puppets For audiences over: M/8 Time: 55 min. Language: Czech, English and French

A grotesque hand puppet variant of the immortal story of a group of four, whose motto was “all for one, one for all!“ was inspired not only by the novel by Alexander Dumas Sr., but also by the silent grotesque of Max Linder from the beginning of the 20s of the last century. The performance, which can be characterized as “scenic comics“, emphasizes the visual component and action. Alfa Theatre uses only “SMS“ language and live songs on the stage. You will experience suspense, humor, comedy, merciless duels as well as professional puppetry and live music with beautiful songs. Comprehension of Czech is not necessary. Audiences can find everything they could wish for in an adaptation of “The Three Musketeers”: excitement, humor, situation comedy, fierce duels, along with professional puppet work and a directorial vision that infuse the classic story with entertainment, but with oversight of knowledge and love.

Awa Deco Hakomawashi wo Fukkatsusuru Kai

Japan

Hakomawashi

MUSEU DO ORIENTE

13, 14, 15 May at 9.30pm

Performers: Eran Tsujimoto, Kazuhide Tsujimoto, Kimiyo Minami and Masako Nakauchi Technique: Full-view manipulation For audiences over: M/8 Time: Aprox. 90 min. Language: Japanese with explanations in Portuguese

This Japanese performance is a magical show, about ritual art with puppets, which has almost vanished. This show has a documentary vibe, with the presentation of three pieces, which include explanations about their history and techniques. The group Awa Deco Hakomawashi wo Fukkatsusuru Kai (Association for the Renewal of Hakomawashi Awa), has developed an intense research about this unique type of Japanese puppet theatre, and managed to renovate this beautiful tradition, creating in their performances an unique ambiance with fantastic articulated puppets that will lead us through the rituals of the Land of the Rising Sun.

Hotel Modern

Netherlands

Shrimp Tales

TEATRO MARIA MATOS

14, 15 May at 9.30pm

Makers and performers: Pauline Kalker, Arlène Hoornweg and Herman Helle Sound concept and live performance: Arthur Sauer Set assistant, production and live set dresser: Ineke Kruizinga Technicians: André Goos and Jorg Schellekens Assistants: Heleen Wiemer, Stefan Gross, Jozef van Rossem, Sanne Vaghi, Jan-Geert Munneke and Annette Scheer Photographs: Pauline Kalker e Leo Van Velzen Acknowledgements: Els Nieveen van Dijkum, Wilco Kwerreveld and Amnesty International Technique: Mista For audiences over: M/12 Time: 65 min. Language: English

In Shrimp Tales, Hotel Modern attempts to portray the fascinating plague that calls itself Humanity. We observe people as if they belonged to an exotic species with unique characteristics. They do sports, practice science, strive, live, make love and lose their mind. Shrimp Tales is a kaleidoscopic portrait packed with significant and insignificant moments: life, death and the frantic scrabbling around in between. In Shrimp Tales, the roles of humans are played by shrimps.

Hermanos Oligor

Spain

Las Tribulaciones de Virgínia

MUSEU DA MARIONETA

19, 20, 21, 22 May at 10pm

Idea, creation and direction: Hermanos Oligor Technique: Object theatre and automatons For audiences over: M/12 Time: 60 min. Language: Spanish Co-production:Festival Internacional de Teatre Visual i de Titelles de Barcelona Limited audience

This show left the basement where it was created thanks to Manolo Martín, Juan Loriente, Victor Molina, Anna Alcubierre, Jordi Fondevilla.

Las Tribulaciones de Virginia is performed with mechanic dolls, toys and Valentino, who uses them to tell us a story that makes us think of love and relationships.

Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Company

Taiwan

The Wedding of the Mice

MUSEU DA MARIONETA
Cloister

20, 21, 22 May at 9.30pm

Artistic director and direction: Robin Ruizendaal Production: Paul Lin Composer: Li Che Yi Actress: Wu Shan Shan Puppeteers: Lai Shi-na, Massimo Godoli Peli, Chang Sheng-po e Chan Yushu Musicians: Lee Che-yi, Chang Shi-neng, Cindy Gonçalves e Sandra Martins Scenography: Zhan Yu Shu Technique: Mista For audiences over: M/6 Time: 45 min. Language: Mandarin with English subtitles

A perfect puppet show that fuses Eastern and Western art. An old lady relives an episode from her childhood, an incident of magic and adventure. As a girl, she mistakenly enters the house of a mouse and becomes acquainted with a pair of mice who are lovers, A-Lang and Pearl. She learns that they may be separated because Pearl’s father is determined to find her a husband according to the mice custom of throwing an embroidered ball. The girl sympathizes with the pair of lovers and uses her wit to help them become husband and wife. Based on a Taiwanese folktale in which mice get married on the third day of the Chinese New Year and households retire early that night, leaving food such as salt, rice and cake crumbs at corners for the newlyweds, “The Wedding of the Mice” is a heartwarming tale of love and humanity. The tale is presented through a charming combination of traditional Chinese rod and Western glove puppetry. Original music performed on Western string instruments is paired with traditional Taiwanese folk song, enhancing the unusual juxtaposition of different cultural art forms.

João Calixto e Tiago Viegas

Portugal

As Pequenas Cerimónias

MUSEU DA MARIONETA

23 May at 5 pm

Creation and performers: João Calixto e Tiago Viegas Project, scenography and puppets: João Calixto Direction: Pedro Santiago Cal Production: Dolores Matos – FIAR Centro de Artes de Rua Production assistant: João Chicó Video and photographs: Frederico Lobo Acknowledgements: Nuno Tomaz, Mathieu Matik, Conceição Ferreira, Chapitô, Sérgio Milhano, Paté Filmes, Teatro o Bando Technique: Mixed For audiences over: M/6 Time: 50 min. Language: Without words

The tragic saga of a strong spiked coffee’s night. Served by themselves and by their puppets. The best menu ever served in this house: soup, main course, bread, wine, coffee, dessert and a delicious dance (cover charge included).

Stephen Mottram’s Animata

United Kingdom

 
















The Seed Carriers

MUSEU DA MARIONETA

24, 25 May at 9.30pm

Author and Puppeteer: Stephen Mottram Music: Glyn Perrin Direction: Melanie Thompson Scenography: Jessica Shaw Lighting Design: Kenneth Parry Lighting operation: Andrew Reader Technique: Puppets and automatons For audiences over: M/12 Time: 50 min. Language: Without words

Like the snatched scenes from a nightmare the little bodies are torn apart for their seeds….

The show is contained within a small, raised, elliptical shaped stage, enclosed by black curtains. It is a dark and mysterious play metaphorically as well as physically. In a style that reflects influences from sources as diverse as the fifteenth century paintings of Hieronymus Bosch to the films of the Quay Brothers, the action and sound blend together to produce a hypnotic, gripping and shocking experience. Glyn Perrin’s score is an acoustic picture in its own right, which heightens the dramatic tension. The human-like marionettes are the protagonists – the seed carriers. As they crawl and leap about the stage area, the least nimble are collected in a large net, or caught in traps by the only live performer (Stephen Mottram), an ambiguous figure who both grows and then harvests these creatures.

Musiscoop

Netherlands

 
















Giant Light Circus

CENTRO CULTURAL DE BELÉM | SALA DE ENSAIO

26, 27, 28 May at11am | 29 May at 3.30pm

30 May at 11.30am

Artistic direction: Ida Lohman Music: Axel Schappert and Mark Tuinstra Magic lantern performers: Marie Rademaekers, Rop Severin and Cecilia Arditto Trombone and Tuba: Axel Schappert Electric guitar and percussion: Mark Tuinstra Artistic Adviser: Jeannette van Steen Technique: Magic Lantern For audiences over: From 2 to 8 years Time: 40 min. Language: Without words

Giant Light Circus is a celebration of light and colour. Very special circus animals show off their tricks, and not in a sandy ring, but on a theatre-wide projection screen. A wizard announces each of the magic tricks: “Roll up, roll up! See a turtle change colour like a gobstopper! See the camel’s humps grow higher and higher! See clownfish come swimming out of a tuba!”

Cie Gare Centrale

Belgium

Troubles: ô!..., iiii!..., ah!

MUSEU DA MARIONETA

26, 27, 28 May at 9.30pm

Performers: Agnès Limbos e Gregory Houben (at the table) Trumpet: Gregory Houben Direction: Sabine Durand Costumes: Françoise Colpé Conception, scenography and props: Agnès Limbos Ligthing design and régie: Karl Descarreaux Special effects: Nicole Eeckhout Photography: Mélanie Rutten Light Prop: Maria Brouillard Acknowledgements: Marie Kateline Rutten Technique: Teatro de objectos Object theatre For audiences over: M/13 Time: 65 min. Language: English Co-production: Théâtre de la Balsamine (Brussels)

Everything had been planned so carefully, yet...

Ô!: New York City, around midnight; amidst cigarette smoke and nighttime mist, a freshly married couple is getting ready for a long honeymoon, expecting it to be perfect and Hollywood-like.

Theater Taptoe

Belgium

Geneviève… si chaste, si pure

TEATRO NACIONAL D. MARIA II Salão Nobre

27, 28, 29 May at 11.15pm

Author: Freek Neirynck Music: Erik Satie Scenography and costumes: Luk De Bruyker Puppets: Dirk De Strooper Lighting: Alain Ongenaet Performers: Luk De Bruyker, Jan De Bruyne, Dirk De Strooper and Françoise Vanhecke (soprano) Direction: Massimo Schuster (Théâtre de l’Arc-en-Terre, Marselha) Photographs: Luk Monsaert Technique: Toy Theatre For audiences over: M/12 Time: 75 min. Language: French

The aristocratic family Cocquyt de Boezinghe from Ghent invite you in their living-room for an adapted version of Geneviève de Brabant’s classical legend. The father, Jean-Baptiste Cocquyt de Boezinghe, a real pater familias plays the show with his daughter Marie-Pharilde, his son Pierre-Alain and butler Adelin. This play describes the family’s middle class attitude with their end of the century mentality, in a comical, satirical and cynical way. Butler Adelin, who welcomes the guests (the spectators) at the door and who announces them with or without noble names, has made almost everything himself: a Belle Époque theatre, the scenery, the figures after the style of the world famous Images Pellerin d’Epinal. The piano-score of Erik Satie’s unfinished opera for puppets, performed live by father and daughter Cocquyt de Boezinghe, makes this visual and textual comic play a real theatrical festivity, in which all the spectators are involved from the beginning until the end.

Roman Paska – Dead Puppet

USA

Schoolboy Play

TEATRO NACIONAL D. MARIA II
Sala Garrett

28, 29 May at 9.30pm

Author and direction: Roman Paska Puppeteers: Roman Paska and Gabriel Hermand-Priquet Scenography and costumes: Roman Paska and Donna Zakowska Lighting design: Stephen Strawbridge Sound design: Paul Prestipino Photographs: Nick Mangafas Techhnique: Mista Mixed For audiences over: M/14 Time: 70 min. Language: English

Schoolboy Play or “There is no Subject”, based on the premise that two of the 20th-century’s inescapably monumental figures, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Adolf Hitler, were schoolmates at one time in Austria, this production of a new work written, directed and performed by Roman Paska was originally created for performances during Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture.

Claus Knecht Großmann

Germany

Grete L. und ihr K.

MUSEU DA MARIONETA

29 May at 9.30pm 30 May at 3.30pm

Direction: Jonas Knecht Idea, conception and puppeteers: Susi Claus and Lutz Großmann Puppets: Lutz Großmann Scenography: Collective Photographs: Angelo Ressegatti Technique: Marionetas de luva For audiences over: M/12 Time: 70 min. Language: German with English subtitles Co-production: FIDENA

“Grete L. und ihr K.” a violent chamber play about the frailty of love.

Kasper and the Devil have been arch-enemies for centuries. The Devil has been defeated by Kasper tricks again and again and again. That makes the Devil furious. So he cooks up a cunning plan to trap Kasper once and for all.