İzmir hosts 3rd international puppet festival

"This year, 12 puppetry groups are coming from six countries: Austria, Italy, France, Russia, Bulgaria and Turkey," said Festival Director Selçuk Dinçer. "The groups that will be in attendance are true professionals at the peak of their art. The Italian Controluce Theatro D'Ombra group is one of the world's most respected shadow-puppet troupes. They will be putting on one of their signature pieces, a shadow-puppet opera, at the festival in İzmir. And Karin Schafer, considered to be one of the best puppeteers in Europe, will also be joining the İzmir puppet festival."

The 39 shows in the festival are expected to draw more than 12,000 viewers to venues including the Sabancı Culture Center, French Culture Center, Güzelyalı Culture Center, and Fuar Youth Theater.

Puppets out and about

Aside from bringing the best of the puppeteering world to İzmir, organizers have another goal for this year’s festival: They want to take the puppets out of the performance venues and onto the street, at events like the Forum Bornova Shopping Center Outdoor Puppet Festival, which will be held March 14 and 15. "We have been thinking about getting the puppets out onto the street for a while now," Dinçer said, adding that the festival wants to introduce new people to the art by giving them the chance to see the puppets and the masters who control them. "We cannot expect all would-be puppetry fans to come out to the venues. This way we bring the puppets to them."

And as for those who do not think of puppetry as an art form? "We will prove to them that this is an art form people of all ages can take part in," Dinçer said.

In addition to the various performances, there will be puppet exhibitions, like the Karagöz Figures, which will focus on representations of Karagöz from the famous traditional puppet show "Karagöz and Hacivat." This Turkish shadow play, a long-held tradition as family entertainment during Ramadan, is the most familiar and famous form of puppeteering to most Turks.

The festival will not ignore its most avid fan-base Ğ children. The organizers have set up a series of events just for them, including an exhibit of puppets created by elementary-school students, puppet-making classes and a competition in which kids will put on shows using their homemade puppets.

"With every passing day, we are seeing the interest in puppets increase exponentially," Dinçer said. "The number of people who want to learn puppeteering, who want to watch puppet shows and who want their kids to learn is increasing. Now the art of puppeteering has become one with İzmir, so we want to take that and make İzmir a center of puppets."

For show times and tickets, visit http://www.izmirkuklagunleri.com