The Puppet Shows of italy

Woodville Examiner, Volume XX, Issue 37220, 16 September 1904, Page 3 (Supplement)

The Puppet Shows of italy

id you would see a genuine pupp. show go to Maples, to San (Airline, IN!, u\vn i iieatre, where, with the real lile that is it-ell drama, yon t.iii understaiid the grotesque drama, In-tare you, wJnclp is a carricature ul Noapuiitun lile. Hie curtain goes up, and Palciuella, king of puppet land, makes rebow. He is amazingly Mire of Jus aids enee; with reason; it never Jails h.m w hether he masquerades as A niello, C inilla or IHorillo. do win tho favour ol tho people before him lie has only i» hold up to view the broad lollies oi their kind. Equally fortunate are his companions—Sciosciammocca. Guoppo, Pag. lieiia, \ ajas.sa, Mdm-e. Einz-Ein/,. The audience dap, stamp, groan, shout, hi-s. in sympathy. Some times they actually take sides with the principal diaraclcr-. In other Italian cities (he presentation is likely to have a. more cosmopolitan Havonr. Although you may lind PuleinelUi lashing his hearers in the hud dialect or may witness a. play of Goldoni. you are more likely io be treated lo a, miniature vaudeville. Eir.st, perhaps, comes a. masked ball, in whie.li lute, intrigue, disclosure and violent death succeed, one another as naturally no in a world of reality. The actors are all masters of their an. The iady dolls coquette with, airy grace, puncmale (lie moods of love with an exe’.-ina-tion point, anil protect on occasion ,n gracefully as segregated maidens, 'j Ik' men dolls live up io their clothe-. and their role-, as compel win ly. and die with a Hop ol bravado which does credit io their sensibilities of saw dual. Next, ■omo marionette acrobats tumble on the a age. gymnasts far more adept than .heir human brothers, for, when, their jl'hcr feats of skill over, they toss nn a lumber of balls in rapid rotation, they -nd tin- performance by nonchalantly browing ilicit' own heads into ‘lie air nnl catching them. The (hmesc music eadier and his pupils come next, rare < s'liinse-s, liitc-d (,o defy living compel i- i ors as successfully as the famous auto- j natoii dn'sn player used to do. A bal- < ■t. concludes (he programme. The dan- v ens achieve a triumph of agility, «. ’a.ster, ami yet faster, whirls the predero dansense to ever aecderal.lng nude, uniil. in a linal Inn A, of enlliu- , asm, she Hie- all lo pieces and le.ivos t jo fct-age in several directions a-t qncc,