Press releases

GRODNO, 5 April (BelTA) - The international puppetry festival Puppets over the Neman will be held in Grodno on 11-15 May, BelTA learnt from Director of the Grodno Oblast Puppet Theater Maria Shabashova.

The festival will gather around 250 participants representing 20 theaters from nine countries. The competition program will include performances by Belarusian, Ukrainian, Lithuanian, Polish, Serbian, Estonian, Czech, Bulgarian, and Russian theaters. The festival will feature productions for children and adults. The performances will be evaluated by an international jury including famous Belarusian and Russian theatrical figures. The festival has the Grand Prix and a number of nominations: Best Director, Best Art Director, Best Ensemble in a Puppetry Production, etc.

This year the festival will be held on four stages in Grodno: on the small stage of the regional drama theater, on the big stage of the regional puppet theater, in the chamber hall of the puppet theater, and on the outdoor performance stage of the Old Castle.

Partaking in the festival will be famous theater troupes. Their performances are modern and original. For example, the puppet theater from Viljandi (Estonia) will present a silent production Cinderella. Another silent production Meteo for older children and adults will be performed by the Vilnius theater. The theater from Bialystok (Poland) will present its Montecchi and Capuletti production for adults in Polish that combines puppets and dance. The Grodno puppet theater will perform out of competition and offer its new production for adults Faust. Dreams.

The festival will also feature a theory training session by Professor Marek Waszkiel from Poland and the presentation of Boris Goldovsky’s book History of Belarusian Puppet Theater.

The solemn opening ceremony and the parade of participants will be held on 11 May. For the first time the Puppets over the Neman festival was held in Grodno in May 2013. Last year the festival featured 12 productions by Belarusian, Lithuanian, Ukrainian, Russian, and Polish theaters. The Grand Prix was awarded to the Brest puppet theater for its production The Moon of Salieri. This year the festival is held as part of the campaign Grodno – Belarus’ Capital of Culture.