On this page you can find facts about the festival, which are also collected in the following document for download:
FACTS ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Did you know:
- All the performing groups will have their Danish stage debut at the festival.
- When choosing the performances for this year we have focused on two themes: Firstly, those played using few effects. We want to show how simply a good story can be told. Secondly, the visible puppeteer. In many of the performances the puppeteer is not hidden but constantly visible on stage and switches between the role of puppeteer and actor.
Festival program:
Performances: The following groups will be performing at this years festival: Blind Summit Theatre (UK), Stugu/Romme Produktioner (N/S/NL/DK), Scopitone & Cie (F), Vincent de Rooij (NL), Le Grand Manipule (F) and Théâtre d’Ombre (F). We have tried to represent various styles within the puppetry tradition: object theatre, projections, hands, stop motion, hand puppets, shadow puppets and Japanese bunraku
Natscenen: From Thursdays to Saturdays at 22.00 the audience is invited to Natscenen (the Night Stage). Films by up-and-coming talents – primarily Danish – will be shown in the first week. In the second week students from The London School of Puppetry (UK) and The Ludwik Solski State Drama School in Cracow, Wroclaw branch (PL) will take over with two nights of cabaret and round off their visit on the final Saturday with Crash Test.
Seminars: Professionals from the international puppet scene will discuss some of the current problems and challenges facing puppet and animation theatre with regard to training, traditions and innovations. They will also take a close look at the possibilities the medium affords for use in therapy. For two days the festival will provide the setting for presentations and demonstrations followed by discussions.
Workshops: Foreign teachers, amongst others Hans-Jochen Menzel from the drama school “Ernst Busch” in Berlin, will run workshops aimed at professional and experienced puppeteers giving them the opportunity to get inspired and learn new puppetry techniques.
Installations: The festival’s small back yard is haunted by an androgynous and mysterious figure, Miss Fish, and eight puppets in the shape of elderly people will take their place on selected benches on Vesterbro.
The people behind the festival:
Arranged by: Kultur Vesterbro.
In collaboration with: The Polish Embassy, UNIMA Danmark, the Danish Development Centre for Performing Arts, London School of Puppetry (UK), the Ludwik Solski State Drama School in Cracow, Wroclaw Branch (PL), the Drama School “Ernst Busch” Puppetry Department in Berlin, BrUNIMA (UK), Frivilligcenter V-SV and a list of volunteers.
Supported by: Nordea-fonden, the Danish Arts Council, Vesterbro Lokaludvalg, Copenhagen Council’s Projektpuljen, Absalon Hotel, the Danish Arts Agency and the Association of Danish Animators (ANIS).
Puppet theatre tendencies:
- Internationally puppet theatre has developed by leaps and bounds for decades now. Puppeteers have gone new ways in their use of materials and modern technology, mixing styles and fusing puppetry with other art forms.
- Today puppet theatre for adults is a recognised theatre genre on a par with traditional theatre. It is possible to train as a puppeteer at state theatre schools abroad, and many aspects of puppet theatre are increasingly being drawn into other theatre genres.
- In Denmark there is no recognised professional training for puppeteers. Therefore this will be one of the topics in the seminar on education. Finally we have invited students and teachers from puppet schools in Poland, Germany and England to participate in various parts of the festival in the final week.
Behind the festival:
Kultur Vesterbro runs two alternating puppet theatre festivals in Copenhagen.
- Copenhagen Puppet Festival, which is held in odd years and which will solely be aimed at adults from 2009.
- Puppet Junior (formerly known as “Fokus på Dukketeater”), which is held in even years and aimed at children and families.
Find more info on: www.puppetfestival.dk/om-os/.
Location:
Copenhagen Puppet Festival takes place in Vesterbro Culture House on the corner of Enghavevej and Lyrskovgade on Vesterbro, Copenhagen.
Tickets:
- Ze Patrecathodics and Tour de Chambres: Dkr. 95 including booking fee. Low Life and Edit(h) Dkr. 95 / 55 (standing tickets) including booking fee.
- Tickets can be purchased on www.scenebillet.dk. During the festival tickets can also be bought in Dagligstuen, Enghavevej 42, daily from 15.00 – 23.00.
- Tickets cannot be reserved or refunded.
- There is free admission to the seminars, Natscenen and the workshops.
Please note that application to the workshops takes place through The Danish Development Centre for Performing Arts on: www.nyscenekunst.dk.
Quotes about the last Puppet Festival in 2007:
- “A surprising success” – Jyllands Posten
- “They say puppets are also for adults at Copenhagen Puppet Festival. I should say so! You have to be fairly adult to take it” – Dagbladet Information
- “When you think of puppet theatre, you imagine something traditional, where the most technical thing about it is a piece of string. Copenhagen´s very first international puppet theatre festival should put an end to such misconceptions” – Copenhagen Post
- “As guest speaker I had the pleasure of visiting the Copenhagen Puppet Festival in 2007. A little gem set in the heart of Copenhagen. The organisers who were very welcoming to audience and participants alike had managed to put together a varied programme and at the same time brought together several key players from the European puppet scene. So I was quite surprised to discover that it was the first time the festival took place. To me it seemed like it was all they had ever done.” Lucille Bodson, director Institut International de la Marionette, Charleville-Mézières, France. The institute is amongst the worlds leading research centres and schools for puppettheatre.
Press contact:
| Barnaby Stig Swann Pedersen, bpeder@kff.kk.dk, mobil: +45 27 15 11 74Pictures and press material can be downloaded at www.puppetfestival.dk/press/ |
