Czech Puppet Web links
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Theatre Institute
Contacts to all Czech theatres, information about festivals, events, and also to various publications (including Czech Puppet Theatre Yesterday and Today). -
Loutkar (puppetry magazine)
Chronicle of Czech and world puppet news; the oldest magazine of puppetry in the world (90 years old in 2002). The magazine comes out 6x per year; now you can read a summary in English on the web site. DAMU
Prague Theatre Academy. University with a department of alternative and puppet theatre where students can earn MA and BA degrees.
Books
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Ceska loutka (Czech puppet) by Jaroslav Blecha and Pavel Jirasek
Publication in Czech with many artistic photos of Czech historic and contemporary puppets
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Czech Puppet Theatre Yesterday and Today
Short but comprehensive publication in English; published by Theatre Institute
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Forms of Puppets by Alois Tomanek
Short publication on building puppets
Czech animated films
Some of the best Czech Animated Puppet films
We recommend films by...
Jiri Trnka - especially the Hand, Puppet Films of Jiri Trnka
Jan Svankmajer - Animated shorts, Alice in Wonderland, Faust,
Jiri Barta- Labyrinth of Darkness (collection of films, including The Pied Piper)
Jan Balej - One Night in One City
Fimfarum I, II, III - short films by different directors based on the same story
Puppet festivals
Some of the best Czech puppet Festivals
- One flew over a puppeteers nest (Annual in Prague, November). Czech professional and amateur puppet performances.
- Skupa Plzen - every other year in late June at the Alfa Theatre in Plzen.
- Festival Materinka - festival of young children's performances every other year at Naive theatre in Liberec in late June (alternating years with the Skupa Plzen festival).
- European Theatre Festival in Hradec Kralove. A much smaller version of Avignon festival... but growing. Always includes many puppet performances.
- Dite v Dlouhe (Children in Dlouha) - week-long festival in April of the best children's theatre. At the Dlouha theatre in Prague.
- Prague Quadrienniel - International exhibition of scene design and theatre architecture (largest in world); has been happening every four years since 1967. PQ include workshops, exhibitions.
Czech Puppet Theatres
State Theatres:
- DRAK Theatre (Hradec Kralove)
- Minor Theatre (Prague)
- Naive Theatre (Liberec)
- Alfa Theatre (Plzen)
- Puppet Theatre Radost (Brno)
- Lampion Theatre (Kladno)
- Loutek Theatre (Ostrava)
- Rozmanitosti Theatre (Most)
- Divadlo v Dlouhe (Prague)
Independent Theatres:
- Buchty a Loutky (Buns and Puppets, Prague) - company well-known for their combination of objects, classic puppets, actors, toys, and ironic humor
- Forman Brothers - independent puppet company run by the sons of film director Milos Forman.
- Rise Loutek (Prague) - amateur theatre company founded in Prague in the 1920s; theatre where UNIMA was created in 1928