The three members of La Fanfarra in the theatre of
“La Reina Blanca”
"Carmen"
Image
from “Two Hands”
Claudia
Schneider and Polichinela in “Euridice and the Puppets of Chairon”.
Scene
from "Full Hands"
Scene
from "Full Hands"
Puppets from "Malic Enamorado" (Malic in Love)
LA FANFARRA Versió en català Versión en castellano
Puppet Theatre Company
The Fanfarra Puppet Theatre Company, was founded in Barcelona in 1976 by Eugenio Navarro, Mariona Masgrau and Toni Rumbau.
The company soon created the character Malic, a “professional Iberian adventurer” who embodied the anarchic and adventurous dreams of his three progenitors, and who was the protagonist of the majority of their earlier shows.
The first production, Malic en Babilonia, used string puppets manipulated from an overhead bridge with many sound and lighting effects and complicated set changes. The Fanfarra began performing in the street with short pieces, with Malic as the central character. This was the origin of shows such as La Història del Rei Trist, Malic a la Illa de les Tortugues, Aquil•les i la Tortuga, El Gegant de les Muntanyes, El Capità Caçalla, etc., (The Story of the Sad King, Malic on Turtle Island, Achilles and the Tortoise, the Giant of the Mountains, Captain Firewater). They performed mainly in the Plaça del Pi in Barcelona where they became a Sunday feature, performing throughout 1977, ‘78 and ‘79.
Also during this period La Fanfarra premiered original versions of the traditional knock-about Catalan Christmas show Els Pastorets (Shepherds’ Play) and La Llegenda de Sant Jordi (The Legend of Saint George), which they performed every year around Catalonia.
In 1980, as a result of their participation in the London International Puppet Festival, (the company’s first performances abroad), they began to work with shadow puppets, creating a new show combining string puppets and Chinese shadow puppets with the title La Història de Li o Malic a la Xina, (The Story of Li or Malic in China). The show Malic a Nova York o la Claveguera Lírica, (Malic in New York or the Lyrical Sewer), was created along similar lines; with a strong poetical vein, it was performed in many Spanish puppet festivals and gave the company its first important successes outside Catalonia.
In 1984, determined to establish a stable venue in which to present their shows, the Fanfarra opened the Malic Theatre (Teatre Malic), a pocket theatre seating an audience of sixty which, over the years, became a prestigious centre for puppets and all kinds of small-format theatre, and was the first of the so-called Salas Alternativas de España (Spanish Fringe Theatres), which in later years proliferated throughout the country.
The Malic Theatre was involved from the start with the Barcelona
International Puppet Festival, (Festival Internacional de Teatre de
Titelles de Barcelona), participated in the various Festivales de
Otoño and, from 1993, organized a Pocket Opera Festival (Festival
de Ópera de Bolsillo) which became highly prestigious and had both
national and international impact. The Malic Theatre received the
following prizes: Barcelona Critics’ Prize, the Barcelona City Award for
Theatre and a Special Mention in the prestigious para-theatrical FAD
Awards.
After opening the Malic Theatre, La Fanfarra produced the following
shows: Calidoscòpia (shadow puppets; text by Rafael Sender
and Toni Rumbau), Las Aventuras de Malic (Chines shadow
puppets), La Reina Blanca (string puppets), Malic
Enamorat o El Retorn d’en Titella (“Catalan hand puppets”),
Europa (play with puppets and actors; text by Toni Rumbau and
Miguel Vigo) and Carmen (Chines shadow puppets; text by
Toni Rumbau and Joan Casas; directed by Rafel Duran).
In 1990, La Fanfarra published a journal of puppetry called Malic,
edited in three languages (Catalan, Spanish and English) and
appearing in four issues. Furthermore, the texts of Els Pastorets
and La Llegenda de Sant Jordi by Toni Rumbau were published, as
well as a collection of four different shadow puppet theatres and
puppets.
From 1993, La Fanfarra embarked on a new phase with each of the three
founder members creating solo shows. Mariona Masgrau with her
trilogy Mangalena, Constantina and Sophia,
and the shows La Capsa de Joguines (a musical story),
De Tant que T’Estimo and El Despertar de les Passions.
For his part, Eugenio Navarro created his trilogy
Trinoceria, Caramente and Zespion, and his latest
show Melodama, premiered in the International Sitges
Festival 2001. Toni Rumbau with A Dues Mans, (Two
Hands) El Doble y la Sombra (Double and Shadow) and the
opera Euridice y los Títeres de Caronte, (Euridice and the
Puppets of Chairon) with music by Joan Albert Amargós, premiered in the
Grec Festival 2001.
La Fanfarra is considered one of Spain’s most prestigious
companies of hand, shadow and string puppets and of visual theatre; and,
with its constant participation in numerous international puppet
festivals worldwide, it is the company with most international
projection. La Fanfarra has performed in the following countries:
France, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland,
Greece, Austria, Portugal, Sweden, Finland and Norway, Russia, The
Ukraine, China, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Turkey, Egypt, Lebanon,
Morocco, Pakistan, India, Albania, Syria and Mexico.
The paths of the Fanfarra’s three members took different directions.
Eugenio opened La Puntual close to where the Malic Theatre used
to be. Mariona Masgrau opened the Espai Fènix in the Sants
neighbourhood; however, in May 2007, victim of a serious illness,
Mariona died suddenly. Her extraordinary collection of puppets, (she was
La Fanfarra’s puppet maker), which now belongs to her son Octavi, is on
temporary loan to the Centro de Títeres de Tolosa (CIT) and is on
display in the centre TOPIC.
Toni Rumbau is currently the sole member of La Fanfarra. Recent activity includes various tours of Two Hands in Spain, Europe, Turkey, Lebanon, Albania, Syria and Mexico. In 2007 he produced - and performed in - the opera Salón de Anubis, with music by Joan Albert Amargós and libretto by Toni Rumbau. Salón de Anubis was performed in the National Theatre of Catalonia, in the Temporada Alta Festival 2007, in Wintertur (Switzerland) and in Darmstadt (Germany).
Toni Rumbau’s latest show, premiered in 2009, is A Manos Llenas (Full Hands), a solo show with hand- and shadow-puppets.
Equally in 2009, the Spanish version of his book “Malic, la Aventura de los Títeres” (Malic, the Adventure of Puppets), was published by Arola Editors.
