Mar ~ Marionetas | Espinho International Puppet Festival

Mar~Marionetas - Festival Internacional de Marionetas de Espinho 2024

Os Mostrengos - Parade of the seven seas [ PERFORMANCE ]

• Teatro e Marionetas de Mandrágora
• all audiences . 45mins . free access


• Teatro e Marionetas de Mandrágora is a resident company in Espinho and is based at FACE - Fórum de Arte e Cultura de Espinho.

Os Mostrengos - Parade of the seven seas

“Like fish out of water” from old sea charts and maps, we gave shape, form, and life to sea creatures. There are five of them, each more than 2 meters long, swimming sometimes in shoals and sometimes lost in the aquatic sounds of space. They are fish that live, dwell and search for food, emerging from the depths and breathing alongside man, leaving him in awe.

A wake-up call, an alert for marine protection, and a tribute to the sea and its secrets.

what the festival has to say

These giant fish-shaped sculptures were born from ancient sea maps. There were so many fears when looking at the sea that various creatures were drawn on these maps. Today they are beautiful sketches that reflect fears that the seas threw up, but which man has been able to defy so well.

These fish have been made from sustainable materials, with the intention of also drawing attention to another fear that the sea brings us today: its pollution.

Their strong, eye-catching color is reminiscent of Portuguese folk figurines. They will wander around the city, highlighting its relationship with the sea as a coastal city, creating the strangeness of giant fish swimming through the city's air.

A space of contemplation and fascination, in this exuberant apparition.

Teatro e Marionetas de Mandrágora

Teatro e Marionetas de Mandrágora is a professional puppet theater company with artistic direction by Clara Ribeiro and Filipa Mesquita and art direction by enVide neFelibata. The company was founded on April 2, 2002. In the symbiosis of a symbolic language that combines heritage and traditional legacy with contemporary society's thought and dynamics, often in a not-so-peaceful dialogue, a fundamental element emerges: the puppet. This element supports us in the search for our own cultural identity.

Our goal is to discover the aesthetic, visual, scenic, and dramatic potential of the puppet itself, as well as in its relationship with the actor, and in this discovery, explore the dramaturgy that characterizes us: to explore culture, belief, and legend allied with the city, technological exploration, and the speed of the global village. Throughout our artistic journey, we have presented various proposals to different audiences, including adults, youth, school, and family groups, as well as in basic and specialized training. One of our major commitments is the national and international tour of our projects. Decentralization, community work, partnership creation, and social and inclusive value are predominant concerns in our daily activities.

Over these 22 years, we have established the company as a contemporary artistic creation structure through dozens of show proposals presented nationally and internationally, whether they are our own creations or collaborations with other national and international cultural structures and entities. Our premise is to provide space for the creative freedom of our artistic team, ensuring the existence within the structure of various languages and diverse visions that unite in the common goal of developing the art of puppet theater. Reflection on social fragility issues and a keen eye on traditions and heritage form the basis of the Company's dramaturgy, consolidated in distinct yet simultaneously convergent perspectives.

Dialogue with diverse audiences and the involvement of creation in different contexts and spaces, as well as the intersection between entities and structures, is fundamental, creating multidisciplinary proposals aimed mainly at artistic communication with audiences. Noteworthy is our collaboration with numerous educational services in the implementation of activities in institutions such as monuments, museums, and heritage buildings.

links

• ei.marionetasmandragora.pt
• loja.marionetasmandragora.pt
• marionetasmandragora.pt
• facebook.com/marionetas.mandragora
• instagram.com/marionetas_mandragora
• youtube.com/@MarionetasMandragora

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that's how

What an excellent moment, between the performance and the surrounding space. The giant fish, inspired by old maritime maps, came to the Espinho Multimedia Center, João de Deus Park, the town hall and walked down Rua 19. They caused astonishment, but at the same time, the pleasant surprise of seeing these giant fish navigating the territory.

Sometimes we heard, this is Mar~Marionetas! We knew we were making a point of saying, here we are again. Of course, the families were fascinated by those wide-eyed and sometimes suspicious little ones. In the world of technology, photographs were being taken of the explosion of color present in these figures, so skillfully manipulated by a team of exceptional puppeteers and an incredible musician that this city cherishes.