Puppet Food: Lions and marionettes star in Karromato?s ?Wooden Circus.? Image by KARROMATO PUPPET THEATER

‘I’ve been a puppet… a poet, a pawn and a king.”

Frank Sinatra wasn’t talking about actual puppets when he sang those words in his 1966 song “That’s Life,” but festival-goers should expect puppets, kings, poets and more at Jerusalem’s International Festival of Puppet Theater, presented from August 9 to August 14 at the Train Theater.

The 18th annual event, making its return with stringed friends in tow, will have a variety of puppet shows and events for kids and adults. It will feature 28 different productions from countries all over the world, including Germany, Belgium and Holland.

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Ilan Savir and Ornan Braier’s “The Magic Box” focuses on imagination and creative thinking as it follows the story of a young carpenter looking for work, a dancer looking for peace, and a quiet and lazy king looking to have some fun.

“Far Over the Sea,” created by Israeli Alina Ashbel, depicts a young girl’s search for lost poems that have disappeared from an old book. The poems eventually come to life through old objects and music.

“Wooden Circus,” put on by Karromato, a traditional marionette theater from Prague, includes wooden marionettes performing customary circus acts. Based on 19th-century variety shows, the marionettes will tame wild puppet animals and perform puppet acrobatics!

With multiple shows each day of the festival, these diva puppets better gear up for a long week of hanging around. Hopefully, the stress won’t get to the more highly strung marionettes.

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