Retrospective // ​​5 & 7 APR '24 // Farewell performance UBU & Masterclass by Neville Tranter (Stuffed Puppet Theater)

From April 3 to 7, Plein Theater and Cat Smits Company presented the Queering Puppets Festival Amsterdam! The Queering Puppets Festival Amsterdam offers a stage for genre-transcending forms of visual theatre, object theatre, puppetry and queer perspectives. The third edition of the festival had the theme 'Weapons of the Weak', which highlighted the power of vulnerability as a political instrument.

A highlight of the program was the farewell performance of puppeteer Neville Tranter on Friday evening. Tranter, one of the most famous puppeteers in the world, presented his very last performance 'UBU' after 40 years on stage. After the performance he received the first Queering Puppets Oeuvre Prize!

On Sunday the puppeteer gave the masterclass 'The power of the puppet'.

During the festival, the Plein Theater was transformed with an exhibition by Splitter Splatter (Iekeline Stange) and the installation Commedia delle mashere by Friso van der Heijden. A short performance of the Ritual Scissors Dance by José Navarro from Peru took place in the café on Friday evening.
 

"Met zijn eigen versie van Alfred Jarry’s Ubu roi in het Queering Puppets Festival sluit Neville Tranter in het PleinTheater in Amsterdam zijn Nederlandse carrière af." - Javier López Piñón, Theaterkrant

Read more about the Queering Puppets Festival Amsterdam here >>

Photo's: Marion Visser