The Crossroads festival will bring together puppeteers from six countries for the third time | 04/25/2024 | Novosibirsk

The Perekrestok puppet theater festival is entering its third round. The show will take place in Novosibirsk from June 7 to 12 and will host 18 teams from around the world. For the first time in the history of the city, viewers will see productions from China and Iran. In addition, artists from Russia, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will perform their performances.

“Crossroads‒ a project of the Novosibirsk Regional Puppet Theater, which received support from the regional Ministry of Culture. The only festival dedicated to puppetry in the capital of Siberia was first held in May 2019, bringing under its wing 15 groups from seven countries. This year the numbers paint a slightly different picture. The festival organizing committee accepted more than 30 applications. Eighteen groups, of which 11 Russian theaters and 5 foreign ones, were included in the bill. For the first time, the Crossroads program will feature two inclusive theaters. And the geography will cover China, Iran, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and ten Russian cities.

“The festival will be an event both for the professional community of theater workers and for city residents,” notes the acting director. Minister of Culture of the Novosibirsk Region Yuri Zimnyakov. — For Novosibirsk viewers, this is a unique opportunity to see the work of puppeteers of different styles, to get acquainted with the richest palette of possibilities of puppet theaters”

At the “Crossroads” the audience will be able to see the play “Gulliver in the Land of Lilliputians” by the St. Petersburg Puppet Theater. E.S. Demmeni – the first professional puppet theater in Russia

Novosibirsk will open “Crossroads» traditional carnival procession. On June 7 at 10.00, participants and guests of the festival will walk along Lenin Street to the building of the puppet theater. Anyone can join the column. There are no special requirements, but there is a suggestion – take your favorite toy with you.

The festival program is very rich. Over six days, viewers will see 29 performances, attend exhibitions and creative meetings, and professionals will be able to attend lectures and master classes. The main hosting venue will be the Novosibirsk Puppet Theater, with support from colleagues of the October Revolution House of Culture, the Novosibirsk Drama Theatre, the Philharmonic Chamber Hall, the Rodina House of Culture in Berdsk and the House of Scientists of the SB RAS.

The Yangzhou Puppetry Research Institute (a troupe of puppeteers from Jiangsu Province) will perform the “China Puppet Show” without words at the festival

For the first time in the history of Perekrestok, the festival will provide a barrier-free environment for people with hearing impairments: competition performances will be provided with subtitles and sign language translation, and the non-competition program will feature performances from inclusive theaters: “Geese and Swans” (4+) theater “Zhili-Byli” from Linevo Iskitimsky district, representing the local branch of the Novosibirsk regional organization VOI, and the play “Mumu” (12+) – a joint project “Living Gesture” of students of NSTU and NOTEK. The new direction will be complemented by special classes for special actors, which will be conducted by famous theater figures.

Performances included in the playbill of the current “Crossroads“, are aimed at different age groups and work with different doll systems. Puppets, shadow puppets, tablet puppets, glove puppets and cane puppets will appear on stage. Their art will be assessed by a jury chaired by Russian historian and theater theorist, teacher, playwright and screenwriter Boris Goldovsky.

The play “About the Hedgehog and the Little Bear” will be shown by the organizers of the festival – Novosibirsk Regional Puppet Theater

Two teams were delegated from the Northern capital to Novosibirsk. St. Petersburg State Puppet Theater named after. E. S. Demmeni will show “Gulliver in the Land of the Lilliputians” (6+) – the famous performance of the founder of the group, restored almost a hundred years later by the master’s followers, and the puppet theater “Van Gogh’s Ear” will give the city “The Ring and the Rose” for the first time (8+) ‒ a comedy based on the fairy tale by William Thackeray, accompanied by the magic flute.

The Kursk State Puppet Theater will bring the tale awry “Koschei + Vasilisa =?” (6+), where traditional characters – Baba Yaga, Koschey the Immortal – are placed in conditions under which they must act completely unconventionally. The creative association of artists who revive shadows “TOKHOT” from Yekaterinburg will show viewers “Aladdin” (6+) that needs no introduction. The shadow theater will be complemented by sand animation. The Perm Karabaska Theater will gather the public for Gogol’s “The Night Before Christmas” (12+). Puppet evil spirits will take part in the theatrical fantasy. The Lipetsk State Puppet Theater will tell the famous French fairy tale about “Tom Thumb” (6+).

The Omsk Puppet, Actor and Mask Theater “Harlequin” will invite everyone big and small to “The Cat and the Murlik” (6+) – a story set in the style of white clownery. The Tyumen Puppet Theater “Old Sacvoyage” will present a play-parable about true friendship “Kitten in the Snow” (4+). The Krasnoyarsk puppet “Uncle Theater” will tell the classic version of the story about Pike and Emelya – “At the Pike’s Command” (0+). Seversky Puppet Theater “Russian booth Parsley“will put on a fairground farce performance”The life and adventures of Pyotr Ivanovich Uksusov“(0+). And the hosts of the festival, the Novosibirsk Puppet Theater, will catch Zen in a philosophical fairy tale “About the Hedgehog and the Little Bear“(6+).

Foreign guests will present five performances for the competition. Yangzhou Puppetry Research Institute will host “China doll show“(4+). The Iranian Puppet Theater from Tehran presents a paper performance called “Marshmallow” (3+). The Mangistau Regional Puppet Theater from Astana will sing in a one-man show “Land of Ancestors” (6+) filled with national flavor. The Fergana Puppet Theater from Uzbekistan will invite everyone to the “Musical Teahouse” (4+) and, in the language of pantomime, will tell amazing stories that happen in their area over a bowl of tea. And the Turkmen State Institute of Culture, located in Ashgabat, will embody the spiritual and moral values ​​of the Turkmen people and the parable “Eternal Legends” (12+) in dolls.

Yulia SHCHETKOVA, “New Siberia”

Photo by Victor Dmitriev and from the festival archive “Crossroads»