Festival de Marionetas do Porto brings classics of literature to the stage

O 37th International Festival of Puerto Marionetas (FIMP) launches today with shows from classics of literature such as “Crime and Punishment”, by Dostoyevski, or “Os Miserables”, by Victor Hugo.

“ In this year's edition of the FIMP we have great names of literature, such as Cervantes, Gogol, Victor Hugo, Dostoyevski, but also names of our time, such as José Luís Peixoto, Regina Guimarães, who helped build shows that are also presented at the festival ", Lusa told the director of the FIMP, Igor Gandra.

According to Igor Grandra, there is a relation with the written word, on the one hand, and on the other hand there is the idea of narratives, fictions and realities, another type of gestures that is to “tell stories of today”.

At the start of the festival, the stage of the Carlos Alberto Theatre (TeCA) welcomes the adaptations of two historical novels by the Belgian creator Karine Birgé: “Crime and Punishment”, by Fiodor Dostoyevski (now and Saturday), and “Os Miserables”, by Victor Hugo (sunday and Tuesday), both with production of the Belgian company Karytiades.

Another highlight of the 37th edition is the Transport Project, which will bring three pieces from three European companies, in which, from the idea of transport we will talk about the circulation of goods in road transport, the universe of trucks, service areas or airports and everything miniature.

“ They are small models that are animated in view of the public in real time, of airports, those known as non-places, in which if the rules of the borders [...] are very clear, according to the passport that is carried”, Igor Gandra explained.

The Transpor Project is “transnational” and also “trans-citadino”, with several performances in the theaters Rivoli, Campo Alegre (Porto) and in the Municipal Theatre of Matosinhos Constantino Nery.

This is “a comprehensive and cross-sectional cooperation project that brings together the efforts of the theatres of Slovenia, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic, as it unites the will(s) of five nations that, under an international co-production regime, have become involved in giving shape to the artistic idea of the project”.

The FIMP 2026 runs until October 18th and will have about half a hundred performances between all the shows and other activities, with national artists, but also from Lithuania, Poland, Slovenia, Belgium, France, or Spain, said the festival director, estimating a “high audience membership” because some shows are already sold out.

The program also extends to the younger public, with shows, school sessions and activities in different spaces of Porto and Matosinhos.

The FIMP maintains the Fimpalitos, an initiative aimed at children to strengthen the approach of the younger to the theater and puppets.