High art and entertainment for all at Jerusalem's International Festival of Puppet Theater
John Cusack may have raised the profile of puppeteers the world over with his groundbreaking role ten years ago in Being John Malkovitch (the real Malkovtich was here last summer, as part of the Jerusalem Film Festival), but Jerusalem was way ahead of that trend. The International Festival of Puppet Theater, running from August 9 to 14, began 28 years ago and has been uniting puppeteers and their devotees every year since.
The Train Theater, which is once again hosting the festival, is Jerusalem's de facto puppetry headquarters year round. But every art form needs its gathering, and Jerusalem's International Festival of Puppet Theater rounds them up from across the world and brings them here for four days of strings, song and theater. "These festivals are our way of ensuring cross-fertilization and our way of sharing our experiences with others in the field. It's like scientists going to a conference and meeting other scientists," says Patricia O'Donovan, a former scientist and current puppeteer who has lived in Jerusalem since the late 1970s, when she moved here from Argentina. "And it's a chance for audiences to see puppetry from around the world." O'Donovan hands are scheduled to move some of the central characters of Amanili Sings at the festival next month.
This year, in addition to the 90 performances (of 28 distinct productions), the festival is featuring a "Public Works" project in Yemin Moshe. While some of the puppet shows, particularly the European ones (of course), are as likely to attract adults as children, the Yemin Moshe affair is clearly for the kids. Tours of the neighborhood will be mixed with puppet shows and workshops.
"Puppetry is an artistic medium that for thousands and thousands of years was not for children. It only recently came to be considered a children's art form, and even that is not universal," Patricia told GoJerusalem.com. "In Europe, it’s still considered an art for adults, and at the festival, you can see a lot of shows that are more appropriate for adults than for children. In Israel, in order to make a living, you need to cater shows to children, but in many other places in the world, it’s still for adults."
While a large section of those performing in the festival will be Israeli puppeteers, Patricia is most excited for the foreign shows: "I know most of my colleagues in Israel's shows, so while I am excited to see their work, I'm also excited to see something new." Israeli shows featuring in the festival include productions from the Shlomi Center for Alternative Theater and the Etgar Theate, while 11 imported acts include the Polish Opolski Teatr Lalki Aktora, the Swiss Rigolo Nouveau Cirque and the Dutch Babok.
Photo courtesy of the Train Theater.
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