The International Puppet Festival is offering a bonanza of entertainment to city folks at the Tagore Theatre, Chandigarh, with anybody witnessing it, not failing to be appreciative of the art of puppetry.
Organized by the Department Of Cultural Affairs, Chandigarh Administration, the mega show started with the presentation of the story of couple Jan Klaassen and his wife Katrijn and the crown of King William Alexander, an engaging tale from the Netherlands, performed by Frans Hakkermars Poppentheater, an award-winning puppeteer, performer and educator.
The story revolves around King William Alexander and Queen Maxima who once went to meet their subjects, but could not meet and greet them as the King’s royal crown went missing. A do-gooder, Jan Klaassen and his gutsy wife offer to trace out the thief. They finally succeed in nabbing the thief and restore the crown to the King, ending in a mayhem that ensues in quick succession. The rib-tickling presentation through an array of colourful characters evoked a thunderous applause from the audience, especially children.
The play by Frans Hakkemars was directed by Joanne Oussoren and lasted 45 minutes.
On day two of the festival, the story – Dragon and the devil was performed by KámforBábszínház, MátéKasó ,Levente Lengyel, Liza Rózsavölgy under the direction of SzervácHorváth, which was well received by the appreciative audience.
Based on a traditional Hungarian folktale, this stellar show takes you through an enchanting, spellbinding, adventurous and mysterious world via the power of imagination. The poignant story sings paeans about the chivalrous royal heroes of the yester years. The farcical creatures, a dragon with musical wings in the tale, kept the audience hooked till the end. This power-packed story is a prominent takeaway for all generations, telling that everyone makes a difference in our day-to-day life, regardless of their social stature and other considerations.
The Kamfor Zenesz Poppet Theatre, one of Hungary’s most innovative and well known puppetry groups, has worked zealously for the revival of Hungarian puppet traditions and promotion of the modern and contemporary puppet theatre in the country. The engaging presentation lasted 40 minutes.
IL Fil’Armonico is a universal story from Italy that everybody can relate to will be performed live on stage by Teatro Tages, Agostino Cacciabue, Rita Xaxa under the direction of Agostino Cacciabue on Wednesday. This 50-minute presentation high on entertainment quotient is set to leave the audience delighted.
It’s a typical story with universal appeal about humanity, love and all its mysteries surrounding the journey of human life.
In a series of passionate poetic presentations, puppets miraculously come alive as funny and relatable characters. There’s a cocky dog, a kooky bird, a crazy ballet dancer and so on pulling heartstrings of the young and old alike.
IL Fil’ Armonico was awarded a prize at the International Puppet Theatres Festival at Kharkiv in Ukraine.
The Puppet Fantasy, a story of substance performed by Theatre Sangsahwa, one of Korea’s well-known puppet theatre groups, will mark the end of the 4-day puppet show.
The tale brings Korea’s rich cultural heritage alive through the power-packed puppet show, music, dance and mime making it a unique and a most watchable show. The colourful flower and butterfly symbolise sheer happiness, the dancing crane seeks to shower good luck upon all, and the angel brings hope and happiness to human lives. The mischievous grandpa indulging in hip-hopping brings giggles and cheer. A showcase of traditional and modern genres of puppetry evokes the sheer joy of life to a cheering audience. The 45-minute play is directed by Kyumi – Ko and Bongsuk- Kim.
Sharing more information about the well-attended on-going puppet show, Munish Sharma of Tagore Theatre, said “We are holding two shows (morning and evening) one at 10:30 am, which is specially curated for students of government schools, and another at 6:30 pm for the general audience. We are getting a humongous response from schools with, on an average, more than 700 students from various schools attending the session, so is the evening session inviting huge footfalls”.
Venue: Tagore Theatre, Sector 18, Chandigarh
Time: 10: 30am, 6:30pm
Dates: Feb 13-Feb 16
Puppetry is a marvelous art form which needs too much expertise and was once a big source of entertainment for the kids… This art requires too much of practice and skills…but the sad part is that this art is waning away very fast and is seldom seen in the streets as it was forty – fifty years ago… This art form needs backing from the audience as well as from the authorities… . जयभारतजयहिंद