Puppet Festival press conference
On 20th May 2015, the start pistol rolled over, we kept the XVIth International Puppet Festival press conference.
Puppet theatre will be the whole city
Nine domestic and five foreign companies at the festival
The XVIth International Puppet Festival will be held in Békéscsaba between 19 and 21 June; the organizers held a press conference on the preparations in the city hall on 20th May. The performances – according to the traditions – are mainly for children, but the additional programmes (parade, circus, fire jumping, concerts and shows) promise real family entertainment.
(Report by Katalin Niedzielsky)
The history of Békéscsaba puppetry and the international puppet festivals has a great history; our city has regularly hosted puppet meetings, professional meetings, and international gatherings since the 1960s. The Napsugár Puppet Group and the prestigious intellectual workshop, led by Konrád Lenkefi, operated from 1949, has gained international reputation and acquintanceship by 1964. From 1967 in every second, and from 1974, in every third years an international puppet festival was held, whose professional recognition was enhanced by main sponsorship from the UNIMA International Puppet Association.
The milestones in the history of the puppet playing in Békéscsaba were recallaed by the mayor Péter Szarvas at the press conference, and was pleased to welcome the next “great and most likely successful festival”. In addition to the host nine cities (Eger, Budapest, Göd, Kaposvár, Tiszaalpár, Kecskemét, Debrecen, Biatorbagy) and five foreign companies (Italian, Russian, Czech, Dutch, Indonesian) will introduce themselves in three days.
- In addition to the production of puppet groups and entertainment of audience an event like this provides significant increment for the town and the county – the mayor emphasized. – We are waiting for children and adults together with real family programmes. We wish that the local audience and of those who come from far to feel good, get acquainted with the sights of the city, taste the famous sausage and take the good reputation of Békéscsaba to the world.
Zoltán Seregi, deputy director of the Békéscsaba Jókai Theatre began his speech with a strange metaphor. He referred that today there are a lot of words about the crisis of marriage, except for the “marriage” of the Jókai Theatre and the Sunshine Puppet Theatre which is smooth. If there is still a conflict, they resolve it elegantly. Zoltán Seregi assured the puppet theatre as he said, that they provide all the technical and spiritual help to the exciting, highly professional event for a greater reputation and success.
Zoltán Lenkefi, director of the Napsugar Puppet Theatre, presented the programme which also follows the traditions since at the first international festival in June 1968, the invited domestic and foreign companies played to the children audience, and even that time there were additional programmes, professional debates on productions, there were street events, concerts, presentations. The target audience is still the children folk, but adults from can also find interesting programmes for themselves from the colourful repertoire. On 19th June, Friday from 3 pm for example, a parade og giant puppets will take place from Csaba Center to Ibsen House, the audience is welcome to the opening concert of Mátyás Pribojszki in the courtyard of the town hall. In front of the theatre, entertainers, circus performers entertain the public, and there will be a playground and a slingshottery. On 20th June, St. John’s Night, the fire jump in front of the City Hall is a novelty, and a handicraft fair and folk dance are also on the offer, on Sunday evening Balázs Szabó and his band close the program. The festival performances are on the stage of the Jókai Theatre, at Ibsen House Studio, in the room of the Puppet Theatre on the second floor, in the courtyard and in front of the theatre.
Participants of the press conference could learn about the horse statues of the sculptor Éva Farkas Pap, whose colourful relatives can be seen at the festival’s poster; all the invited puppet groups will receive a lovely statuette.
Niedzielsky Katalin
