Story and photos by Anthony Savvides
Over the weekend, Il Teatro Umbro dei Burattini (the Umbrian puppet theater) put on four performances of “Pinocchio: le avventure di un sognatore,” the classic Italian children’s tale based on Carlo Collodi’s 1883 novel. The performances were held at Teatro San Nicolo in Spoleto on Saturday and Sunday evening and the audiences made up of mostly local parents who brought their young children.
Both children and parents alike got into the magic of the puppet show, as there was a lot of audience interaction with Andreas, the puppet master on stage. The first half of the show focused on Pinocchio and Geppetto, his father, as well as Pinocchio getting mixed up with the evil, forest-dwelling cat and fox. Later, his misadventure with the theater director, Mangiafuoco, is told on stage. Many of the children in the theater could be heard telling Pinocchio what he should do, and not to listen to the cat and the fox.
After a brief intermission, Pinocchio’s adventure through the mouth of a whale is told, though only briefly and without a wooden whale puppet. The famous green cricket makes his first appearance in the tiny frame on the stage, as does the blue-haired fairy. The audience gets its only glimpse of Pinocchio’s growing nose as he lies to the blue-haired fairy before the story comes to a happy end.
Children in the audience cheered and clapped throughout the show, and most of them left the comfort of their mother and father’s laps to sit right in front of the stage. Andreas reappeared from behind the curtain in order to bid the audience a good night, and pulled on lucky boy on stage to help him.
For more information about the show and to see more photos from backstage, visit the official website of Il Teatro Umbro dei Burattini.