After 25 years of operations including performing at major festivals internationally, Horizon Theatre is organising a Puppet Festival to celebrate sharing of culture amongst our multicultural society in Sydney.
The aim of the Sharing Culture Festival is to promote togetherness, friendship, protecting our planet, reaching for goals and achieving dreams.
“We have lived through a terrible pandemic that increased feelings of isolation and loneliness,” Horizon’s Artistic Director, Maddy Slabacu, said.
“We understand people are longing for something positive, uplifting to do and, thanks to funding from Multicultural NSW, we are able to stage a festival that will help bring people back together.”
The festival’s major attraction is an exciting free show staged in the Amphitheatre on Saturday, May 28 between 4pm and 6pm.
There will be a screening of Hamid Rahmanian’s film version of Feathers of Fire, a dazzling digital version of the Middle Eastern shadow puppet play based on the Persian epic, Shahnameh.
Feathers of Fire is a cinematic shadow play for all ages. It tells the action-packed tale of Zaul and Rudabeh, two star-crossed lovers of old Persia. Zaul is raised by a mythical bird in the wild, while Rudabeh is the granddaughter of the dreaded Serpent King. Their deep love for each other enables them to triumph over inconceivable odds.
Horizon Theatre will perform the play An Alien Adventure in which a young woman visits Earth and discovers the things we share in common are more important than the things that make us different.
There will also be additional live performers and additional puppet videos from around the world.
“The festival allows us an opportunity to promote Art and local artists,” Ms Slabacu said. “It’s something we’ve done for a quarter of a century and we only want to move from strength to strength.”
The festival involves the participation of local artists including Ben Kuryo, Ruby Dollin, Emilia Stubbs Grigoriou, Ebony Halliday, Stathis Messaris and Lachlan McInnis.
