We do not have a celebration this year

Charso Press: When Marzieh Broumand was the secretary of the 15th Puppet Show Festival in 2013, she decided to create a program called Shadpimaei in order to familiarize the public with puppet shows as much as possible and to create a happy atmosphere for families and especially children. to hold, which was actually the puppet carnival.

During that period, all children and adults, as well as the groups participating in the festival, were invited to participate with their dolls in this joyous celebration, which was held in the distance between Palestine Street (the former location of the doll house) and the Shahr theater complex.

In order to hold this program, which was one of the few carnivals after the revolution, the necessary arrangements were made with the municipality and the police force, and after receiving the necessary permits, this street party, which Broumand had chosen as the title of “Happy March”, was held.

This program was actually the public opening of the puppet show festival. Broumand did not want the opening of the festival to be a dry and formal program, but instead of conventional and boring speeches, he preferred to organize a lively program for the general public.

In the next period, the 16th festival parade was held between Shahr Theater and Vahdat Hall, and in the 17th festival, water and fire garden was dedicated to this parade, which was accompanied by some fringes due to the heat of the weather, and ended up being crowded with people and children who He apologized for bothering the program.

At the time of the Corona epidemic and in the situation where the 18th Puppet Show Festival was held virtually, there was naturally no space for a happy procession.

But last year, when the 19th edition of the festival was scheduled to be held, one of the predictions was that this edition would also have a joyous procession and after the hard times of Corona, once again a general program of happiness would be held for families and especially children. But the 19th festival, which was supposed to be held in the last week of Mehr 1401, could not be held on the specified date due to the special conditions of the country at that time, and its holding was postponed to July this year.

Now the latest festival is about to be held, but there is no news of rejoicing. During this period, the surrounding situation of the city theater complex, which has been the main venue for holding puppet events, is so pathetic that even if the general conditions of the country allowed it, the special situation of this place is such that nine puppet groups had little desire to participate in such a program. And neither the families dared to bring their children in a space that is a breeding ground for buying and selling drugs and has nothing to do with the definition of the city’s theater as a cultural complex and a national building.

In the meantime, perhaps children are the main losers of this situation, who have lost the few opportunities for everyone to be happy on the street.

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