Azernews.Az

By Laman Ismayilova

Baku Marionette Theater has applied to participate in the World Puppet Theater Festival.

The 20th World Puppet Theater Festival will be held in France on September 20-29. Baku Marionette Theater will present “Leyli and Majnun” play at the festival, Azertag reported.

“Leyli and Majnun” is a tragic love story, in which the male character Majnun (literally meaning "crazy" in Arabic) goes mad because he cannot be with his beloved Leyli.

The most popular version of this love story was penned by Nizami Ganjavi (1141-1209), who lived and died in Ganja.

Baku Marionette Theater was established by the director and artist Tarlan Gorchu in the middle of 1980.

The first performance of the theater was the marionette of Uzeyir Hajibeyli's opera Arshin Mal Alan. The premiere held in France in 1990.

The French press wrote: "The Marionettes are capable of everything!", "Two more nights of joy!” Thus, by the wishes of the audience, additional performances of "Arshin mal alan" were held.

In 1993, the theater changed its status to the municipal theatre, and in 2013 joined the Icherisheher Administration.

More favorable conditions allowed the team to focus all its creative energy on the staging of Uzeyir Hajibeyli’s opera "Leyli and Majnun".

In 2016 the Theater was able to perform on its permanent stage for the first time.

The World Puppet Theater Festival, founded by Jacques Felix in 1961, has made Charleville-Mezieres the capital of puppetry.

The festival takes place every two years. Every year, about 250 troupes from five continents present their plays to over 150,000 spectators from all over the world.

For 10 days, the festival holds around 200 shows as part of the main event and fringe festival, street shows, meetings, exhibitions and other festivities.

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Laman Ismayilova is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Lam_Ismayilova

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