International Puppet Festival to kick off on February 25 in Chandigarh

The puppet festival was started in 2013 with the intent to preserve the art form of puppetry by using children’s curiosity as a catalyst.

THE DEPARTMENT of Cultural Affairs, Chandigarh Administration and Tagore Theatre will hold the 6th International Puppet Festival in unison with the Delhi-based Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust from February 25 to 28.
The puppet festival was started in 2013 with the intent to preserve the art form of puppetry by using children’s curiosity as a catalyst. “There is no festival like this exclusively for children (in Chandigarh) and puppetry is a traditional art form of India. To preserve this tradition, we started this festival,” said Kuldeep Sharma, Director of Tagore Theatre.

This year, four groups of puppetry from four countries will be performing. An Italian puppet group will be performing a puppet show musical titled, Hanging by a Thread, as the opening act. Puppet groups from Brazil, Argentina and India will perform on subsequent days. Each year, different groups are chosen and an Indian group is chosen to support Indian puppetry. Two shows will be held every day during the festival. The morning show is organised for children studying in government schools. Sixteen such schools have been given the invitation to send 200 children each.

Evening workshops will also be held for children in the age groups of 6 to 12 years by a local puppet group. The workshops and entry to the festival are free of cost. The evening show is open to the general public. Each year, the audience response has been overwhelming with both children and adults being equally enthusiastic about the event.