The international puppet festival began in earnest yesterday at the Lambert Puppet Theatre in Monkstown, Co Dublin, as Eugene Lambert and his ventriloquist dummy, Finnegan, launched the event with a short performance.
Showcasing a variety of puppetry styles from around the world over 10 days, a series of productions, workshops and free shows in libraries as well as paid performances in national schools in the Dún Laoghaire/Rathdown area are scheduled for children and adults.
Most of the shows will take place at the Lambert Puppet Theatre. Highlights this weekend include a puppet production from Germany, The Crazy Kitchen Crew, and a retelling of the classic Rumpelstiltskin tale from a British puppet group.
Productions from France and Bulgaria, as well as Ireland, will also feature. Ticket prices vary from €9 for children to €12.50/€10 for adults.
Children's puppet-making workshops will take place (€15 per child), and adults' shadow puppet-making workshops will be run for €25 per person.
Tomorrow at 2.30pm, a free open-air festival of puppetry will take place, weather permitting, at the Harbour Plaza in Dún Laoghaire. Next weekend, the festival will come to a close at the Lambert Puppet Theatre, following a performance of My Tree, a contemporary fairy story from a UK puppet theatre.
Eugene Lambert, creator of the RTÉ puppet show Wanderly Wagon, said the festival, which has been running since 1991, is going as strong as ever.
"Puppeteers are all so unique. There are a great variety of shows this year and more workshops than ever before, because of their growing popularity," he said. "Children will all make their own puppets to take home in the workshops, and there are several shows for the adults too."
For more information, contact the Lambert Puppet Theatre, Monkstown, Co Dublin on 01-2800974/01-2801863.