Giant ambulatory puppets as high as three metres tall and six metres in length will be parading on Gozo as part of a new International Puppet Festival next weekend, presented by the Għarb local council. 

Cleverly handcrafted from wood and metal by French theatre company Paris Bénarès, each will be worked by several operators to give them both a surprisingly life-like range of movements and individual character traits and personalities. And with music and narrative, through the streets of Għarb, the stories of the characters will unfold.

One of the puppets, Oisôh, is a cheeky long-necked wading bird who arrives here with his wide-spread feathered wings and towers above the people below. He’s facetious with his puppeteers and often teasing with the public, and he’ll probably peck a bougainvillea as he passes with his gigantic beaky smile! It’s an undeniably impressive sight.

Then there’s the imposing camel, proud and sedate who dreams of freedom and travel. Released from a crate in which he was incarcerated, he imagines adventures, perfumes, tastes and other touches of the exotic magic.

Some of the puppets were crafted by French theatre company Paris Bénarès.

And, ridden by a pair of puppeteers, and controlled by a complex system of pulleys, ropes and levers inside their wooden structures, a pair of imposing Sacred Cows as tall as houses with rich ornamentation, will blink and raise their noses to sniff the fresh sea breeze.

Then, with a life-like gait of hooved feet and legs, they move forward with a steady gait as if they are strolling down a street in Benares before stopping to graze, ruminate and observe you with their expressive long-lashed eyes. Visitors will even be able to feed them straw as they pause in their perambulations.

“You can’t believe what you see, but you will be seeing it!” says Jean Paul Mifsud, the festival director, who has spent the last year studying puppet-making with the world-leading puppet builder and Icelandic puppet master Bernd Ogrodnik.

“It seems incredible that these moving characters are entirely human-powered. They’re controlled by 19 actor-operators!”

Puppetry is an age-old art form that brings together traditional crafts and great skill, and stretches the imagination.

Shadow puppetry from Theatre Anon.

“I think we’re fascinated by puppets because we are all both puppets and puppeteers in a way,” Mifsud smiles.

The line-up also includes engaging street theatre from an Italian puppet group, Opera Dei Pupi Turi Grasso, who are bringing the great tradition of Sicilian ‘Pupi’ to the festival. The company represent the puppeteers of Acireale, who have given life to the popular puppet theatre for centuries and are recognised by UNESCO as significant cultural heritage.

Their puppets are an ornate variety of marionette which became popular in the late 19th-century folk theatre: these quirky puppets are medieval knights in ornate helmets, legendary heroes about one metre tall, crafted with detailed armour and expressive faces. In combination with intricate movements and improvised dialogue, these interesting costumes tell part of their story.

There’ll also be interactive, friendly, family entertainment presented by actor and popular puppeteer Sean Briffa and his brightly coloured hand puppets.

In addition, Maltese theatre company Theatre Anon will be demonstrating how to use different styles of puppetry to animate stories, with free entry to all. They are also running workshops on creating shadow puppets and using life-size puppets which should be pre-booked.

“I have always dreamed of organising a string puppet festival,” says Għarb major David Apap.

Some of the Sicilian puppets.

“Ever since I was a child, and loved the story of Pinocchio, I thought there was something magic about the way puppets could appear to be alive. And then once, when I was abroad, I came across a show of these giant puppets. They were enormous and spectacular, and it was incredible to see the way the puppeteers operated them so that they moved like real animals! I thought it would be amazing to bring them to Gozo and it’s very exciting to have them as the centrepiece of an International Puppet Festival in Għarb.”

(And, as an aside, there’s be more entertainment overhead in Għarb next month too, as dozens of airborne characters take to the skies for the 2024 International Kite Festival!)

The puppets will be on show in Għarb village square from 6.30pm on Saturday, September 28, before a full day of live parades and other puppet-related entertainment and activities on Sunday, the 29th.

The International Puppet Festival is being organised by Għaqda Mużikali Viżitazzjoni together with the Għarb local council, supported by Arts Council Malta, Malta Tourism Authority and the Ministry for Gozo and Planning.