After this long period of dreaming, it's thrilling for us to be hosting artists from France, Quebec, Ontario, and Nova Scotia. With programming for puppet lovers of all ages, in both French and English, we invite you to explore some of the styles and gifts of this ancient and wildly diverse art form.

Here's what PuppetWorks! 2021 MiniFest has to offer...

Something’s Rotten! (in the state of Denmark)

A French madman clown takes on a 55 minute version of Hamlet with object puppetry, “mostly in English”. If you are a Shakespearean purist, be prepared… for Something’s Rotten! (in the State of Denmark)

Violence and hilarity for the adult lover of puppetry (for 12+).

Three Fairy Tales – Contes finement adaptés

Théâtre Motus brings us Contes finement adaptés - 3 famous fairy tales: The 3 Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, and The Wolf, The Goat and The Seven Kids - all “en français”. Tabletop puppetry, some magical paper creatures, parables and silliness speak to the child in all of us

Salar

For the whole family - a transformative environmental theatre experience, Salar weaves together stories, myths and science through movement, music, and puppetry to share the story of the Atlantic Salmon, its epic life cycle, and 25,000 years of humans and the fish.

The Dream Hunters

You may remember Les Oiseaux, the beautiful creatures that roamed the streets of Stratford in 2019... The Dream Hunters (Chasseurs de rêves) return this August to showcase extraordinary new characters, gigantic puppets created from scratch, and handled by stilt walkers.

All programming takes place outside in the beautiful environs of Gallery Stratford, with your household bubble of friends and family safely spaced in groups (pods of 1-5 people). The fee per pod starts at $20. If you wish to support the festival, pick a different price per pod and you will receive a tax receipt for your additional generous contribution.

For more information visit www.springworksfestival.ca.

Photo: Oiseau from The Dream Hunters. © 2019.