Welcome to the 2021 Cork Puppetry Festival – it’s great to be back!
This year’s festival runs from 29 July – 01 August. It opens in the beautiful outdoor setting of Elizabeth Fort with workshops in shadow puppetry and free puppet shows by an old festival favorite Little Gem Puppets. There will also be a world premiere of Blue Beard and the Birds as the festival continues its proud tradition of providing a platform for new works of puppetry.
Due to the continued prevalence of COVID-19 a large part of this year’s program will be presented using online streaming. The first of these events will be a triple bill of shadow puppetry featuring Beyond The Bark, Corina Duyn, and Flight of Fancy.
Friday opens with an online broadcast of Bear Goes To The Beach, a blend of music and puppetry for young children and their families. Following this, Your Man’s Puppets will present a live-streamed performance of Random Acts of Puppetry and give a behind the scenes tour of their puppet-making workshop.
The first show of this year’s festival by international puppeteers will be the screening of a brand new film by the UK company Hopeful Monster. Friday then closes with a masterclass for puppeteers by Sue Buckmaster (Artistic Director of Theatre-Rites).
We’re delighted to have teamed up with the Gate Cinema for a Saturday morning screening of Robot Boy, a puppet film by the renowned UK company Theatre Rites. Saturday will also feature a live stream of the Puppet Cabaret, our annual evening of puppetry shorts and new ideas.
The festival closes on Sunday with an exciting day of outdoor events in Fitzgerald’s Park. There’ll be traditional Punch and Judy, puppet-making workshops, and a live stream from on the big screen of Treefellas, a hilarious comedy walkabout, and live music with the Undertone Orkestra.