“Puppets have the ability to engage people”

La Bottega Teatrale was founded in 1995 and since 2003 it has organized the Theatrical Season „Le Figure dell’inverno” in Turin and since 2008 the European Festival, EuroPuppetFestiValsesia”. La Bottega Teatrale organizes also shows and workshops in the schools. It’s an Italian professional company of Puppet Theatre. Recently, Giuseppe Cardascio along with Salvatore Varvaro performed at the PUN International Puppet Festival.

Can you tell us about the origins of La Bottega Teatrale?

Our company "La Bottega Teatrale" was born in 1995 by actor Giuseppe Cardascio, actor of prose, cinema and television. It was born to divulge the puppet theater in every technique. For 15 years he has been organizing the theater season of figure "The Figures of the Winter" and for 10 years the Theater Festival of figure "EuroPuppetFestiValsesia". In 2012 he performed in the Vatican in front of Pope Benedict XVI with the performance "La Fame di Arlecchino" (Hunger of Arlecchino) with Salvatore Varvaro (as Arlecchino) and Giuseppe Cardascio (puppeter). It participated in numerous festivals in Italy and abroad: Switzerland, Bulgaria, Poland, Spain, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and India.

What is the philosophy of the company in a nutshell? What are your ambitions for it long-term?

Our philosophy has always been to help the children live in a world of fairy-tale fairies. Never lose sight of reality but always playing. Our desire is to spread and develop as much as possible the mixed technique in the out shows and to have a great international puppet school and mixed technique.

Puppetry has been facing stiff competition from cinema, television, video and computers and today there are few takers for live puppet shows. What are your thoughts?

Television and cinema are a big problem. We believe that the world is going to the right direction: there are many puppet theater festivals in the world. We hope to have more festivals and not expensive for the Public. This is because we our "EuroPuppetFestiValsesia" was born and for this reason each Country must help to grow a new festival.

PUN International Puppet Festival

Do you agree Puppetry has a unique ability to bridge gaps of misunderstanding and to bring people together?

I think puppets have the ability to engage people, sometimes impose their own way of thinking. They help you understand and find solutions to every problem. I believe, however, that they can be means of communication, as well as effective, very dangerous if they are used inappropriately.

Any advice for aspiring puppeteers?

I recommend studying and having good amount of patience.