Download The Sicilian puppet theatre

The Sicilian puppet
theatre
The Puppets

The Sicilian puppets, born in the mid nineteenth century, are a
particular type of puppet. Differently from the Italian ones made
of wood and fabric they have a metal armour enriched with
carvings, arabesques and embossings and the wire, which
commanded the right hand of the puppet was replaced by an iron
rod, so that the puppeter could make the marionette do more
precise actions how to extract and put the sword back, hugging a
woman, beat its chest or forehead with his fist, and lower the visor
of the helmet; simultaneously clothes, coats and skirts were sewn
with more and more beautiful and precious fabrics.
In Sicily, the puppet
theatre takes on a
unique
characterization, both
for the content and for
the technique, which
is called "the puppet
theatre." The
repertoire, usually in
Sicilian dialect, refers
primarily to the events
of Orlando and the
paladins of France.
For centuries the Sicilian
puppets, cleverly animated by
generations of "puppeters",
have been the only source of
education and one of the few
opportunities for
entertainment and fun for the
lower classes,but they were
also appreciated by the
middle class. It has expressed
the Sicilians’ ideology for
decades: the audience listened
passionately to the stories of
chivalrous cycles, of bandits, of
saints, of Shakespearean plots,
finding there the hopes, the
struggles, the victories, the
defeats of existence. Every
evening people watched the
performance of a new episode of
the cycle.
Historically the puppet theatre, as we know it
today ,was created as a representation of the
clashes between the medieval knights and the
Moors, around the second half of 1800, when the
chivalrous marionettes, from which the puppets
derive found popularity and began to interpret
the feelings and aspirations of justice of a social
class.
The spread of this form of artistic
expression, was favoured mainly
by the "Storyteller" and
"cuntastorie". The former, an
itinerant artist, deals with the
epic theme through singing,
acting and mime, while the
"cuntastorie" performs the same
themes through the declamation,
being a narrator who does not
use any musical instrument, but
uses to modulate his voice with a
particular technique, passed
down from generation to
generation.
Through the Puppet theatre high
codes of conduct like chivalry and
honour, the fight for justice and
faith were transmitted, but also
love affairs and the craving to
excel were present. This
theatrical form, despite its
simplicity, has allowed in a
certain sense, the spreading of
the epic.
Recently the Unesco has declared the Puppet Theatre
masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Today a few puppeteers are trying to keep the tradition
alive, offering some shows for tourists or in real theatrical
exhibition, among which Mimmo Cuticchio's company is
among the most well known in Palermo for its extraordinary
skill in the acting of the “cunto” (tale), on the rhytm of hits
of sword.
Cuticchio’s theatre
Mancuso’s theatre