PUPPETS WITHOUT FRONTIERS

The Baku Puppet Theatre has recently returned home after a tour in Europe. In fact, our iconic theatre made a duplet by combining the participation in the International Puppet Theatre Festival in a small French town of Charleville-Mézières with a tour in the Croatian city of Zagreb, hence laying the foundation for cultural ties between Croatia and Azerbaijan.

On the global coordinate system

The International Puppet Theatre Festival was founded in 1961 by a street actor Jacques Felix, who set out to turn the small town known to the world as a birthplace of the French poet Arthur Rimbaud into a centre of ancient human fun. Initially, he organised an international festival of puppet theatres, and 20 years later, he opened the International Institute of Puppet Art, which now has a very prestigious school of puppet theatre. Today Charleville- Mézières hosts the headquarters of UNIMA, International Puppetry Association. The festival lasts ten days, and is usually attended by 400 groups from 40 countries gathering here from all corners of the world to show street performances, hold meetings and exhibitions, and to get acquainted with new technologies and canonical forms of puppet shows. In a word, these days turn into a worldwide holiday of good mood and intensive work of professional researchers.

The Baku Puppet Theatre, which operates under the auspices of the administration of the State Historical and Architectural Reserve Icherisheher, was invited to this prestigious festival as a participant. By the way, one of the leading theatre experts in France, a specialist in puppet theatre Veronique Haute published an article on the festival’s website summing up the results of the event, and singled out only six performances that deserved particular attention, one of them being performance of the Baku Puppet Theatre, Leyli and Majnun.

Director of the Baku Puppet Theatre Tarlan GORCHU shared his impressions about the European tour with us.

"Was this your first participation at such a prestigious festival? It is not so easy to receive an invitation..."

"It was our first time as a team. Thanks to the Ambassador of France to Azerbaijan, I once visited the festival eight years ago personally. Being a guest in Charleville, I could watch a large number of performances, and was introduced to the director of the festival Mrs. Cabanis. She was interested in my story about our puppet theatre, and she offered to send an application for participation. So, after eight years, we successfully staged our Leyli and Majnun in Charleville for an audience who is completely different from the Azerbaijani audience. We knew that we would perform in public, for an audience with a language barrier and unaware of our musical traditions, literature and drama. We did not know how a completely different European audience would understand us!"

"I know that the tickets for all four performances were sold two months before the start of the festival. Is that true?"

"Yes. But after all, the sale of tickets is not yet a proof of a successful performance. Of course, we were all worried. Colossal responsibility, you know! For the first time, we represented not just a theatre from Baku but the whole of Azerbaijan."

"And?"

"Only when I saw that the audience was watching our performance holding the breath, I thought that not everything was so bad. Then we had another three performances. They watched, listened, and applauded us not letting us go behind the curtains for a long time. When we finished, I thought that at least we did not miss anything or did anything shameful. I thought that we could represent Azerbaijan in the best light."

"I have known you for many years. I know that you are completely deprived of professional coquetry. After such a successful performance in Charlesville and Veronique Haute's article, do you feel a sense of pride for what you did?"

"Not at all. I always say that our achievements are a product of our collective and mutual creativity. One just needs to be accurate and professional enough to maintain the balance of power. Everyone should do what they should do. That's all. I experienced tremendous relief, realising that we are no worse but no better than others. We are just different. But the most important thing is that we are professionals. Therefore, our theatre is among those who did not go unnoticed at such a prestigious festival."

"Have you been able to watch the performances of groups from other countries?"

"Yes. I had bought tickets in advance. I was interested to see and know the development of the art of puppet theatre in other countries at the present stage."

"What was your impression?"

"There were many different dolls at the festival. Oddly enough, there were few puppets. But that is not the point. My conclusion is that the modern puppet theatre lacks a clearly defined storyline. Often the plots were focused on one or more specific details of the story to attract the attention of the audience. Everything was revolving around that particular detail analysed and shown in all possible variations. I cannot say that it was exciting and fascinating. It was interesting for the first five minutes, but then it was boring."

"Do you think it is because of the crisis of theatrical art?"

"I would not take responsibility for making such a statement. And I would not say that this is something new in art. But I can assume that everything that happens is a mirror image of the economic crisis, which hit the state of the most vulnerable sphere in society: culture and art. Puppeteers explore other fields in related arts where they are paid more, because the cost of making puppets far exceeds the income from their demand. Research work of directors working with puppets is no longer needed. It is replaced by what is profitable. This is different. It is the result of the commercialization of artistic thought, which leads, ultimately, to the substitution, and then the destruction of genuine creativity and art. This is also the current state of society. Anyone. Charleville, gathering people from all over the world, was no exception..."

"A depressing impression?"

"No. Yet another reason for reflection, analysis, and research."

"What did participation in the festival give you personally?"

"I have realised in which direction of the repertoire development we need to move on to be interesting not only to our audience, but also to the audience in any country in the world. Therefore, I must part with the idea of ​​staging the third operetta of Uzeyir Hajibeyov Not That, So This. It is good as a historical experience but not as an idea, as a thought."

"Do you have a new idea for the production?"

"Yes. Ashiq Qarib by Lermontov..."

"Why?"

"This is a love story that everyone can understand. I have been thinking about it after Charleville and Zagreb."

"Talking about Zagreb, how were you received there, in a city not spoiled by festivals yet?"

"We staged two performances at the Zagreb Puppet Theatre thanks to the support of the Embassy of Azerbaijan to Croatia, the administration of the State Historical and Architectural Reserve Icherisheher and the Ministry of Culture of Croatia."

"How did the audience appreciate Leyli and Majnun?.."

"Very well. Our performance has become a cultural event in the city. At the first performance there were representatives of various diplomatic corps, and on the second day, representatives of the entire creative and artistic elite of the city. In a word, the audience is quite prepared. They accepted us just fine. We took with us to Baku not only wonderful memories and photos, but also the confidence that they would remember our performance by pronouncing the name of our country. They will say that we came to them from Azerbaijan."

"Now that you have returned home and are working on a production version of Ashiq Qarib, are there any plans to travel abroad?"

"Next year marks the 20th anniversary of inclusion of the Icherisheher architectural complex in the UNESCO List of World Heritage. We have an idea to celebrate this date with a performance in Paris, which hosts the UNESCO headquarters."

"I wish you good luck and that all your plans come true!"

"Thank you!"