Segovia, Apr 11 (EFE).- The Segovia Titirimundi International Puppet Festival will once again fill the city with puppets, marionettes and object theater between May 10 and 15 with 288 performances by 35 companies from ten different countries such as France and Belgium.
The director of the festival, Marián Palma, has presented this Tuesday the details of an “eclectic” program filtered from caravans, small altarpieces or city gardens with a marked spirit of “celebration of life” and “festivity”, the stamps of Titirimundi.
The works of this 37th edition will also be characterized by a “desire to reach the soul” through themes such as the passage of time, fear, beauty or references to what has happened during the last three years since the health crisis.
In the capital, 288 performances will be staged in twenty-seven corners of the city by theater companies from countries such as France, Belgium, Denmark, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Slovenia or Argentina.
theater of objects
This edition of Titirimundi will give a privileged role to the theater of objects, a current trend in the world of puppetry, although there will be no shortage of other traditional genres such as string or glove.
The inauguration will be carried out by Fekete Seretlek & Stúdio Damuza (Czech Republic and Slovenia) with their show “Kar Repass”, a cabaret about Anna Karenina that aims to break borders and combine world music with the theater of objects.
Bob Théâtre’s “Nosferatu” (France) will come to Segovia to “de-dramatize fear” with an expressionist staging, and “Los impávidos bretones” from La Mandale (France) will offer a reflection “beyond the simple black hole” to “overcome the fear of the unknown and investigate scientifically”.
“Garpard”, by Une Tribu Collectif (Belgium), delves into the story of a child “who always wants to go further” and the relationship between the puppets and the human being, who is also “manipulated” by external elements such as the context family, social and political in which it develops.
A great absence this year will be the emblematic Carrusel d’Andrea, whose arrival at the Plaza del Azoguejo at the foot of the Segovia Aqueduct always marks the beginning of the festival and which this year will not be present “for family reasons”.
Failing that, Titirimundi has set out to fill this square with workshops, games such as those built from recycled materials by “Guixot de 8” and the show “Boucherie Bacul” by the Belgian company Pikz Palace, which recreates a peculiar butcher shop that prepares plush cuts.
decentralized titirimundi
As part of the tour outside the capital, festival performances can be enjoyed in thirty-nine towns in the province of Segovia, twelve spaces in Madrid, four municipalities in Castilla y León (Burgos, Salamanca, Candeleda-Ávila and Zamora). , and in Gavá (Barcelona), Redondela (Pontevedra) and Barañáin (Pamplona).
The school campaign will have twenty-five performances at the Municipal Library of the capital, which students from fourteen educational centers in Segovia, Ávila, Valladolid and Madrid will be able to enjoy.
The festival will also take five performances to the public with difficulties in attending the usual spaces: the pediatric ward of the General Hospital of Segovia, the Juan Pablo II Youth Residence and the Primary Care Coordination Center for Child Development of El Sotillo.
Among the parallel activities, there will be a workshop by the artist Chris Geris aimed at professionals and students of the “Casa de los Picos” School of Art and Design in Segovia, five other workshops for families and the presentation of two books in the Quintanar Palace.
The director of the festival has referred to the difficulty that Titirimundi faces to organize each edition without knowing the budget they have, since the contribution of the Junta de Castilla y León and the central government, through the National Institute of Arts Escénicas y de la Música de España (INAEM), is not published until later.
They do have a contribution of 100,000 euros from the Segovia City Council, those from sponsors such as Coca-Cola or Heineken and the proceeds from the sale of tickets from the last edition, Marián Palma has detailed.
It has also announced the creation of the Titirimundi-Julio Michel Foundation, a milestone that has been possible thanks to the granting of the 2021 National Prize for Culture of Performing Arts for Children and Youth, whose endowment was received just a month ago. EFE