Marionette String puppet theater Fremantle International festival

Marionette String puppet theater Fremantle International Street Arts festival 2018

All of the puppets you see in the show building Di Filippo Marionette and make themselves in their studio workshop in Italy, except for the puppets’ clothes which are made by (Remo’s) “Mamma”.
During the show, we do not speak, and we hope you do the same… But if you see something you like, feel free to applaud, laugh or cry, and share your energy with us and with the marionettes – and together – we will create a magical show. “

Di Filippo Marionette string puppet theater

Let di Filippo Marionette’s eclectic family of expressive wooden marionettes take you on a wordless journey, with puppets that will enchant people of all ages. With joy, wonder, and playfulness, these silent marionettes weave their stories, interact with those around them, and share their inner dreams.

Marionette String Puppet theater Fremantle International Street Arts Festival 2018

History of Marionette String puppet

Marionette, also called string puppet, any of several types of puppet figures manipulated from above by strings or threads attached to a control. In a simple marionette, the strings are attached in nine places: to each leg, hand, shoulder, and ear and at the base of the spine.
A marionette is a puppet controlled from above-using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette’s puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms of theatres or entertainment venues. They have also been used in films and on television. The attachment of the strings varies according to its character or purpose. In ancient Greece and Rome clay and ivory dolls, dated from around 500 BC, were found in children’s tombs. These dolls had articulated arms and legs, some of which had an iron rod extending up from the tops of their heads. This rod was used to manipulate the doll from above, exactly as is done today in Sicilian puppetry. A few of these dolls had strings in place of the rods. Some researchers believe these ancient figures were mere toys and not puppets due to their small size.

Sicilian marionettes String puppet theater

The sides of donkey carts are decorated with intricate, painted scenes from the Frankish romantic poems, such as The Song of Roland. These same tales are enacted in traditional puppet theatres featuring hand-made marionettes of wood, an art form called “L’Opera deî Pupi” – “Opera of the puppets” in Sicilian. The opera of the puppets and the Sicilian tradition of cantastorî singers of tales are rooted in the Provençal troubadour tradition in Sicily during the reign of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, in the first half of the 13th century. A great place to see this marionette art is the puppet theatres of Palermo, Sicily.

About the Fremantle International Street Arts Festival

started as a celebration of Fremantle’s local busking culture in 1999 and has grown into a showcase of the world’s best street theatre.
Each year over the Easter long weekend, the streets of Fremantle are transformed into an open-air theatre of the amazing, weird and wacky, while Fremantle’s famous alfresco dining steps up a notch, with pop-up bars and eateries extending into the streets.
Entertainment centres around several major ‘pitches’ or performance locations and roving performers pop up in surprising and interesting places all across the City.