After winning last year’s “Best puppet musical cabaret award” at the Harmony World Puppet Carnival (the world’s most famous marionette and puppet festival), this year Rome’s Teatro Verde Company represents Italy at the 14th edition of the Ishara International Puppet Festival 2016 in India. The Roman company gave life to the Festival alongside eight more companies from Egypt, Iran, United States, Afghanistan, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland and India. The Festival will run until Feb. 12 in three Indian cities, New Delhi, Guargaon and Chandigarh. The Festival staged Andrea Calabretta’s show “Bravo, Bravissimo!”, directed by Francesco Mattioni and with Veronica Olmi as art director, with the support of the Italian Institute of Culture in New Delhi and the sponsorship of Unima Italia (Union international de la marionnette). The show was produced by the Teatro Verde and the Teatro Pirata of Jesi, two historical companies that are among the most old-dated in the world of puppets, and the Teatro Ragazzi Italiano, which has been operating for over 30 years with more than 200 repeat performances and a repertory of dozens of plays.
Rome’s Teatro Verde Company represents Italy at the Ishara International Puppet Festival 2016 in India
The Teatro Verde will be back in India “after many years and a series of shows in all the continents, thanks to the invitation of the director of the Ishara Festival, Dadi Pudumjee, who considers the Company’s work and history an Italian point of excellence to be disseminated throughout the world. This represents a wonderful recognition of Italian puppetry, an art and a heritage among the richest and most valued around the world, safeguarded thanks the Unima Italia Network of Archives which is a candidate (awaiting a reply) to be listed in the Unesco Memory of the World Register.” The Unima Network groups numerous collections, museums and archives belonging to companies, theatres and historic families of puppeteers (Colla, Signorelli, Podrecca, Cuticchio, Monticelli, Sarzi…) and comprises hundreds of elements. It consists of an immensely valuable collection comprising over 100,000 puppets (dating back to the 17th century), many of which take life in the shows still performed today, representing an age-old, rich and precious memory, which still lives thanks to the art and trade of puppeteers, marionettists and stage setters.
Compagnia Teatro Verde of Rome
