From 16 to 22 September, parks, streets, theaters and public spaces in Sofia will become points to meet common puppets, acrobats and weird puppet creatures, as Sofia will be hosting the 9th edition of the Puppet Fair, the International Street and Puppet Theater Festival. This year it coincides with the 70th anniversary of the Sofia Puppet Theater. More about the event from the theater's director Kiriakos Argiropoulos:

“The Puppet Fair was born in 2002 as a national festival. On its second year other countries showed interest in joining in: Turkey, Greece, Serbia, Croatia and Macedonia. In 2006 we included in the program also street theater. This year participants in the festival come from France, Belgium, Poland, the Czech Republic, Georgia, USA, Spain, Croatia, Serbia and Greece. We have included more than 40 shows, and we have invited a circus for the first time: CircoPanico from Italy. It will give seven shows and its tent will be located in the new Vuzrazhdane Park. Theater shows will be presented at the Sofia Puppet Theater, Hall 4 of the National Palace of Culture and the Youth Theater who are the festival's partners. We hope that in the next edition we will give time to street musicians.”

Puppet art in Bulgaria emerged in the early 20 c. At first European puppet theater was accessible in the family theater of Sofia-based Czech brewer Prosek. The first puppet theater company was created by the Brambazatsite amateur musicians. In 1924 they gave a puppet show that was the start of a puppet theater at Slavyanska Beseda Cultural Center in the capital city. In 1945 Mara Penkova, actress from the National Theater, founded the Sofia Puppet Theater.

“The theater has had a few moments of glory in its history" Kiriakos Argiropoulos goes on to say. "For seven decades now it has been entertaining its young spectators. It has on its record a few international distinctions. It won its first such prize back in 1960, in Bucharest. Since then the art if puppets evolved fast owing to the foremost stage-directors Nikolina Georgieva and Atanas Ilkov, the creators of the contemporary puppet theater if Bulgaria. Puppet shows have an important role for children. They tackle themes like beauty and love. Over the recent years we have been working on shows for baby audiences. We will present a new production at the festival.”

As adults we ought to safeguard the magic which children feel for the world. Children are the purest and sincerest beings among us. Let them find out about the cruelty and injustice of this world when they grow up. Unfortunately, nobleness, altruism, good heartedness and love have become more uncommon these days. Therefore the stories that puppet shows recount are so very appealing - telling us what we have lost. The moral in them is important - but it matters how it comes along and from whom. And, is there a wiser mentor than a puppet? 

 
English Daniela Konstantinova