Theatrical section
Theatre of puppets is not a mirror or an infantile introduction to the "real theatre", not a didactic method, not a pedagogical way for our beloved nor a way of imitating anything. Of course it could be any of this. We present you the spectacles which use the art of animation from classics to experiments. We would like to convince you that there are various languages of art and many creative spaces which are worth to explore. To laugh at them, to be touched by them, breathe by them and negate only if consciously.
Marek b. Chodaczyński
General Director
Marek b. Chodaczyński (1954)
Zodiacal Taurus, Director, co-founder and chairman of The Impossible Theatre Union. Father and director of International Festival of Puppet Theatres and Animated Films for Adults "Puppet is a Human too". President of the Polish Center of International Puppet Artist's Union POLUNIMA. A cultural animator. Individual prizes for direction in Poland and Czech Republic. Individual prizes and scholarship of Minister of Culture. He received medals: "Gloria Artis", "Meritorious for Polish Culture" and medal on the 50th anniversary of POLUNIMA and the distinction "The Talents of Ochota". He has directed spectacles in Poland, Belarus and Russia.
Our Jury
Joanna Braun
Graduated from the Krakow Academy of Fine Arts. After graduation she is associated with the Theatre of Dolls and Masks Groteska in Krakow. He works with different stages and has more than 150 stage designs in drama, puppet and dance theatres. She is the most important artist in Polish theatres, as evidenced by the prestigious awards for her productions. Since 2004 she has been a PWST teacher in Krakow at the Faculty of Drama Directing and Publications in the theatre newspaper Didaskalia. Participates in thematic collective scenographic exhibitions, as well as frequent individual presentations: a necessary workshop for the basic work on the form, among others recently the investigation of the theme of the body in exhibitions: votarium – BWA Bielsko Biała Ifamki – Gallery ZASP in Krakow Infamki and Infantki – Gallery Stara Prochownia in Warsaw and: Homage to Pina Bausch – Polish Theatre in Stettin, Mościce Art Centre in Tarnów, Theatre Institute Warsaw, Small Polish Art Garden in Krakow, Teatr Maska in Rzeszów.
Marián Pecko
Marián Pecko, director and artistic director of the Puppet Theater at Rázcestí, has created approximately one hundred theater productions in drama, puppet theater, opera, and circus. He collaborates with theaters in Slovakia (Andrej Bagar Theater in Nitra, State Opera in Banská Bystrica, Ján Palárik Theater in Trnava, Slovak Chamber Theater in Martin), in the Czech Republic (Klicpera Theater in Hradec Králové, Puppet Theater in Ostrava), in Poland, and in Hungary. He is part of the team organizing the international festival Bábkarská Bystrica. He has presented his work as a director at several Slovak and international festivals (in the Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, and France). He has won numerous prestigious awards for directing productions in Polish puppet theaters.
Ruth Brockhausen
Mask and theatre puppet maker, actor-puppeteer, director and president of Unima Germany. Co-founder with Heiko Brockhausen and director of the “Theater der Nacht” in Northeim, Lower Saxony, which is now the headquarters of Unima Germany. In 2023, she collaborated with the Göttingen Symphony Orchestra on the performance ‘Wilde Reise durch die Nacht’, based on the novel by Walter Moers. Organiser of the international puppet theatre festival, international symposia and puppet art workshops in Northeim.
Events
Description:
Written and performed by: Facundo Moreno, Rugiada Grignani, Tommaso Grignani
Duration: 45 min
Any point on the globe has its opposite. Landscapes and beings that are very different from one another are linked by a line equal to the Earth’s diameter. Where everything becomes within reach, we imagine a place that exists, yet moves further away with every step we take.
Three characters invite the audience to follow them on a journey to the antipodes of the world. A surreal journey on a miniature horse, amongst bewildered characters and tiny shadow men on the run.
Antipodi is a fusion of various styles and techniques of puppetry, from Chinese shadow puppetry to object manipulation and physical theatre.
Performance presented as part of the "OBSZARY – Accessible Culture at Radomska 13/21" project by the Ochota Cultural Centre.
Schedule
Closing ceremony of the Festival (Ogłoszenie werdyktu Jury i zakończenie Festiwalu)
Unia Teatr Niemożliwy
Description:
Announcement of the Jury's verdict and closing of the Festival.
Schedule
Description:
Duration: 55min
Direction and dramaturgy: Mariasole Brusa
Music: Andrea Napolitano
Puppets and props: Gianluca Palma, Sofia Orlando, Marco Scarpa
Set design: Alberto Favretto
Lighting design: Sander Loonen
Costumes: Gianluca Sbicca
Video: Caterina Salvadori, Mariasole Brusa – Meclimone Produzioni
Project tutors: Stefano Ricci, Gianni Forte
Produced by: La Biennale di Venezia
With the support of: Teatro del Drago
Distribution: Teatro del Drago
Cast: Eva Luna Betelli, Giovanni Consoli, Sofia Orlando, Angela Dionisia Severino
Two hands gather mud from a puddle and begin to shape it.
Are they the hands of a child, a primordial being, a god? The hands mold the formless substance, creating increasingly complex figures. An entire city of clay takes shape. Yet the creative impulse remains strong, and the hands continue to sculpt—this time, forming an anthropomorphic figure, a mud puppet. The clay-stained fingers trace symbols resembling letters on the creature’s forehead, eventually forming the word EMET, meaning “life.” The puppet—the Golem—opens its eyes. It comes to life, interacting with itself, with its surroundings, with its own reflection. But soon, it too is overtaken by the desire to create, the urgent need to shape —after its own image and likeness. Creation and destruction, however, feed into each other. Mariasole Brusa has combined the legend of the Golem with the experience of the catastrophic flood that struck the Italian region of Romagna in 2023.
In partnership with ATER Fondazione.
Schedule
Hałas
Agata Kucińska
Description:
Cast: Agata Kucińska, Sambor Dudziński
Duration: 60 min
What does peace mean today? Is it possible to have it, to keep it, to defend it? And in the future – will it be possible? Given that our reality this week is different from what it was last week and different from what it will be next week? And there’s no chance we’ll manage to adapt to it in time? Will the barrage of stimuli bombarding our nervous system ever stop, recede, let up?
Or perhaps, if we want to survive in relative balance, we must shut ourselves away in sensory deprivation chambers or… learn to defend ourselves against it. Now. On our own. For our own sake.
Perhaps effectively protecting one’s own nervous system will soon become one of the most important – and most difficult to master – skills. Perhaps it already is. Perhaps new degree programmes will soon emerge, culminating in a ‘Master’s in Silence’.
Let’s not allow our phones to consume us, or let companies as big as nations shape our neural pathways in a way that ultimately leads us far away from ourselves. Let’s change this. Starting tomorrow. And together.
I want information overload to be taxed. I want the practice of separating us from ourselves to become illegal.
I want animals and trees to take over the world. I want meadows to grow in the city, so that we aren’t afraid of one another. So that we have no names. I want us to greet one another by saying, ‘Take your time’. […] I want everyone to be able to be, and to be, a philosopher. And for ‘female philosopher’ to sound just as dignified as ‘philosopher’. I want thoughts from the gut to be more important than thoughts from the head. (Małgorzata Halber, ‘Hałas’, Cyranka Publishing House, Warsaw 2024)
The performance is a one-person story about trying to cope with overstimulation and the struggle for inner peace. It uses visual art, puppet animation, spoken word and live music to achieve this.
Producers of the spectacle
Fundacja LALE. Teatr i Agata Kucińska
Partners: Wrocławski Teatr Lalek, Fundacja Lale.Teatr
Schedule
Description:
Duration: ~50min
Directed by: Mária Danadová, Monika Kováčová, Ivan Martinka
Libretto, puppets and set design: Ivan Martinka
Artistic collaboration: Ivana Macková
Music: Mariana Bódyová (cello), Lukáš Kubičina (DJ and sound design)
Light design: Milan Slama
Production: Monika Kováčová
Cast: Mária Danadová, Ivan Martinka, Mariana Bódyová and Lukáš Kubičina
Cooperation: Viktória Jehlárová (graphic design), Andrej Novák (electrotechnic cooperation), Ondrej Uhrin (IT specialist), Miroslav Petrík (RC modelling supervision), Peter Rehák (puppet creating cooperation), Marek Motloch (artistic locksmith cooperation), Ľuboš Horňák (carpenter), Peter Paulus (video technical cooperation), Katarína Caková (photography and artistic consultation)
Lithuanian folk song The two of us shall go together (Aisva mudu abudu) a aria of Hope (Speranza) from C. Monteverdi's opera L´Orfeo are used in performance.
Partners: Pôtoň Theatre, Záhrada – centre of independent culture, Theatre from Passage, Industra Brno and Ticho a spol.
Supported using public funding by Slovak Arts Council.
With financial support of the International Visegrad Fund and the Nadácia Tatra banky.
Searching for light, which disappears and gets left out of sight, is an archetypal, comprehensible image across cultures. The more we try to search for light in the dark, the more we become aware that the dark resides in our breast. Where do light end and dark begin? Where do fear end and wonder begin? The place where shadow is present, there must be light somewhere as well.
The performance is a fusion of the performative aesthetics of the Odivo Theatre and an original idea conceived by Ivan Martinka, who is a puppeteer and a puppet maker. For this piece, he has created his own original puppets – such as mannequin, virtual puppet for remote control or animatronic puppet.
Schedule
Mayday
The Impossible Theatre Union and David Zuazola
Description:
Idea: David Zuazola
Screenplay: Marek b. Chodaczyński, David Zuazola
Puppets and set design: David Zuazola
Direction: Marek b. Chodaczyński
Music: Marek Żurawski
The story of an elderly man who spent his whole life working cooped up in an office. Metaphorically speaking, we see him entering his office/workplace in 1976 and remaining in the same place, working and growing older, right up until 2026. He was made redundant – even though he didn’t want to be. He didn’t want to because he didn’t know how to live any other way – he had been living in his own ‘bubble’. He is forced to leave his office and start a new life. However, in 2026, everything looks completely different. He understands nothing about technology, values, current events or how people live nowadays. He sets off on a journey during which he discovers and gets to know a different society and world that does not respect his values and does not understand older people. He is forced to ask questions that irritate those he asks. In the end… he is simply trying to survive in the final days of his life.
Schedule
Description:
Author: Leszek Kołakowski
Adapted and directed by: Marek b. Chodaczyński, Maciej Dużyński
Music: Marek Żurawski
The sculptors: Grzegorz Durlik, Marek Kowalski, Aleksander Kuberski, Alicja Ruczko, Marcin Rząsa
Production: Teatr Scena 96
In collaboration with: Unia Teatr Niemożliwy
Duration 55 min
As I’m sure everyone knows, Professor Kołakowski was an eminent Polish philosopher, and the title of the play is an unfinished quote from one of the parables featured in the production. This unfinished sentence is the key to understanding the play’s message. I won’t finish it here, as that would give everything away. You need to watch and listen carefully so as not to miss it amidst the wealth of things worth seeing and hearing there. The selection of excellent texts used for the mini-lectures, beautifully delivered by the two actors and illustrated by outstanding sculptors, comes together to form a thought-provoking spectacle culminating in an exhibition opening.
In stories based on Old Testament narratives, the performance and the Professor remind us that ‘you are dust, and to dust you shall return’.
And all this is presented in a light-hearted manner, and at times is genuinely funny and entertaining.
Schedule
One Small Step for Man, but for a Puppet… (To mały krok dla człowieka, ale dla lalki…)
Liliana Kłos
Description:
Cast: Lilianna Kłos, Dominika Šošková
Artistic Supervisor: Błażej Piotrowski
Technical Crew: Łukasz Krasoń
Spain, 1648. The Thirty Years’ War has ended in defeat. Catalonia has been lost. Portugal has declared independence. Yet for King Philip IV, none of these events compares with his greatest concern - his own appearance. How can one rule a kingdom while feeling trapped inside a body inherited rather than chosen? Is it possible to be a worthy monarch when one’s greatest enemy is the reflection in the mirror?
In this humorous solo performance, one actress brings several forms of puppetry to life while exploring vanity, power, and self-image.
Schedule
Description:
Grand Opening of the 20th Edition of the "Puppet is a Human too" Festival
Schedule
Poruszane: ciało, obiekt, lalka | Intensywne warsztaty twórcze dla dorosłych
Kinga Senczyk
Description:
Co się stanie, gdy połączymy ruch, teatr i magię animacji? Sprawdź to na własnej skórze podczas bezpłatnych warsztatów dla każdego – niezależnie od tego, czy masz 16, czy 116 lat. Nie musisz mieć doświadczenia, wystarczy ciekawość. Przez cztery dni będziemy eksperymentować z grami choreograficznymi, zadaniami aktorskimi oraz ożywianiem przedmiotów i lalek. Poszukamy wspólnego języka ruchu i formy, by stworzyć wyjątkową opowieść. Wieńczeniem naszej pracy będzie wspólny pokaz powarsztatowy na festiwalowej scenie!
Kiedy: 13–16 października (wtorek–piątek), godz. 17:00–20:00
Finał (pokaz): sobota, 17 października, godz. 12:00
Gdzie: Pałac Szustra, ul. Morskie Oko 2, Warszawa
Dla kogo: Osoby w wieku 16–116 lat (obowiązują zapisy na cały cykl)
Zapisy: od 14 do 27 września (potwierdzenie udziału wyślemy 28 września)
Liczba miejsc ograniczona (max. 25 miejsc). W przypadku zapełnienia się miejsc, zapisy mogą zostać zamknięte wcześniej.
Prowadząca:
Kinga Senczyk (@kinga_senczyk) - pedagożka teatru i tańca, choreografka, performerka i improwizatorka, kulturoznawczyni, przewodniczka kulturalna, autorka tekstów o kulturze i sztuce. Absolwentka kursu choreografii eksperymentalnej “Choreografia w Centrum - Proces” oraz “Choreografia w Pawilonie” prowadzonego przez Fundację Burdąg, Centrum w Ruchu oraz Pawilon Tańca i Innych Sztuk Performatywnych w 2026 roku. Uczyła się i współpracowała z choreografami i choreografkami takimi jak: Weronika Pelczyńska, Małgorzata Haduch, David Zambrano, Viktor Černicky, Ola Bożek-Muszyńska, Przemek Kamiński, Anna Obszańska i inni.
Schedule
Description:
Duration: ~45min
Actor, puppeteer: David Faraco
Idea, story, text & direction: Sofie Krog & David Faraco
Puppets: Sofie Krog
Scenography: David Faraco
Music: Cuco Pérez
Drawings: Diego Etcheverry
Songs/sound universe: Sofie Krog
THE EASY WAY - TO A PERFECT LIFE
Come closer if you dare – and enjoy a street show with crazy monster medicine for the entire family.
“Come closer! The Quacksalver is in town – come closer if you dare”
Are you bothered by hustle and bustle that makes your hair fall out? Have you become too plumb around the belly? Or are you suffering from something even worse? Don’t lose hope! From his wondrous pop-up wagon, Mr. Q now presents the miracle cure Wonder Tonic!
In this fantasy adventure, Mr. Q turns on his charm when a pop-up move transforms his wondrous wagon and he welcomes the audience into a puppet universe where the truth behind Wonder Tonic is revealed, produced and sold.
Come closer if you dare – and enjoy a street show with crazy monster medicine for the entire family.
Schedule
The Desert Caravan (Pustynna Karawana)
Katarzyna Sęk
Description:
A film by Jorge Prior
Duration: 84 min
They fell in love. She came to Mexico from Poland, he from Spain. They went to the desert and decided to live there.
They were performing on small ranches, first walking the arid trails to the next town. Then, they put together a horse-drawn caravan, making it their theater, home, and transport. The troupe grew and against all odds, they fulfilled their dreams: life in freedom, seeking out children and ranchers who lend an ear to their incredible tales.
Schedule
Description:
Magical journey for one traveller towards the place that longs to be found.
5-minute audio-visual experience for one viewer at a time in the style of the Lambe Lambe theatre.
The Puppeteer, the Double, and the Shadow (El Titiritero, el Doble y la Sombra)
Toni Rumbau
Description:
Author and speaker: Toni Rumbau
Puppet performers and shadows: Toni Rumbau and Eudald Ferré
Direction: Eudald Ferré
Puppet construction: Mariona Masgrau (puppets), Nartxi Askargorta (double mask), Martí Doy (double puppet)
Puppet costumes: Paulette San Martín
Set design: José Menchero
Music: Octavi Rumbau
Drawings and shadow silhouettes: Clementina Kura Kura
Lighting: José Menchero, Toni Rumbau
Dramaturgical foundation: Luca Valentino
Poster photography: Jesús M. Atienza
Production: Sara Serrano, Thot Arts, If Barcelona
Creative residency: Can Estruch
Co-production: Festival IF Barcelona, TOPIC in Tolosa, José Menchero’s Workshop, Thot Arts
Funded by the Generalitat de Catalunya, Department of Culture
Who is actually controlling whom here?
The puppeteer controlling the puppet?
That’s the obvious answer.
And so it must surely be wrong.
Toni Rumbau has been involved in puppet theatre for over 45 years. After years spent writing about and researching this art form, he returns to the stage with *The Puppeteer, the Double, and the Shadow* – something between a performance, a lecture, a philosophical game and an initiation into the secrets of puppetry. There will be classic puppets. There will be shadows. There will be doubles. And a question that fits exceptionally well with a festival called ‘A Puppet is a Person Too’: where exactly does the puppet end and the person begin?
Schedule
Description:
Duration: 50 min
Dramatizing: Robert Copoț, Laurențiu Pleșa, David Zuazola
Director: David Zuazola
Composer: Lazar Novkov
Set designer: David Zuazola, Attila Bajko
Somewhere, in a hospital that seems detached from time, two patients share a room and the dense silence of waiting. Mr. White, sitting by the window covered by a heavy curtain, looks out daily at the park—a world full of life, color, and people: a dazed man walking his dog, a balloon seller, children running around laughing, an ice cream vendor. With each story told to his colleague, Mr. Black, he seems to revive a reality beyond the cold walls of the hospital.
One day, an unexpected moment disturbs this fragile routine. Mr. Black remains alone. And when he is finally moved to the window, he raises the curtain with a hopeful soul. But what he is about to discover will call into question everything he thought he knew—about the world, about the other, and about himself.
The Window is a visual and moving meditation on the fragility of perception, the need for meaning, and the deep longing for light—even where there seems to be no window left.
Schedule
Description:
Performance, puppets, set design: Samira Wenzel
Performance, music, set design: Stefan Wenzel
Project manager: Frauke Niemann
Director: Samuel Beck
Orpheus and Eurydice fall in love. Marriage, everyday life, boredom.
Caught up in the routine of married life, they seek entertainment elsewhere. Orpheus plays his music for the nymphs, whilst Eurydice can no longer bear his oh-so-enchanting melodies and begins seeing a local shepherd.
But is the shepherd really who he claims to be? – No! And that’s how it all begins!
Up to Mount Olympus, and then, with the thud of hooves, down to the underworld. Eurydice decides to take a risk and follows the god of the underworld.
And Orpheus? Public opinion is greatly spoiling his enjoyment of being a widower, so he sets off to win Eurydice back.
But hang on a moment – even Jupiter, the god of all gods, wants her.
A loose adaptation of Offenbach’s operetta ‘Orpheus in the Underworld’.