The seventh Guadalajara International Puppet Festival kicks off Saturday with a flavor typical of this year’s event – a range of shows including the Chilean group Mueca Producciones’ wry reflection on instant fame à la “American Idol,” and a free, open-air event by Hungarian puppeteers Mikropodium.
“This year more people have the opportunity to attend because the shows will be in more public spaces than ever,” said the festival’s long-time organizer Miguel Ángel Gutiérrez. Not only that, but the performances are geared to all ages, not just children, he said.
“Generally, the festival’s open-air shows, like in the Mercado San Juan de Dios, the Via Recreativa, and so on, are for the whole family and are free,” he added, noting that in these cases performance times are shorter (20 to 30 minutes) than in indoor venues, such as Teatro Diana, Museo de Arte de Zapopan, ITESO University, the Trompo Mágico museum and Alianza Francesa (where performance times run one hour).Gutiérrez underscored that where there are admission prices, they are not high, ranging from 70 pesos to 380 for the closing show at Teatro Diana — the high-profile Montreal group Théâtre Motus.
“There are eight groups in all this year,” said Gutiérrez, “and each one is quite different.”
Even Mark Twain’s famous perennial character Huckleberry Finn — evading his stepmother’s civilizing intentions and helping a slave to escape — will be represented in a Friday, November 1 show at Teatro Experimental de Jalisco.
Festival Internacional de Títeres de Guadalajara, October 6 to November 3. For a complete schedule of shows and locations, download the calendar halfway down the page at www.elfestin.org.