Research & Documentation

Another important aspect of our work is research and documentation of both traditional and contemporary puppet theater. In recent years, for example, aware of the devestating extinction of secular traditions, we dedicated time and resources to go and meet the great masters of this craft in different parts of the world.

With humility, we continue learning from these guides, because we know that they are the land on which to plant new fruit, and we record the testimony of their work and word: heritage for future generations.

Thus we have undertaken a fascinating and vital project, which is to document through audiovisual media, traditional puppetry practices in Cambodia, Thailand, and Mali; and singular theatrical practices, such as Cuba’s annual Cruzada Teatral Guantánamo – Baracoa.

A sample of this work is this video about Cambodia’s  Kok Thlok company, which is dedicated to the rescue of traditional shadow theater, native to Cambodia.

In addition, we sustain appreciation for the puppeteering work of Hermenegildo Lanz — our heritage and history — to whom the origin of Etcétera is directly linked. The following post are evidence of this:

El país, “Aquel titiritero a la vera de Lorca”, by Elsa Fernández-Santos

Ideal, «Hermenegildo Lanz, el artista borrado», by Inés Gallastegui 

We also publish articles related to our research in different cultural magazines such as Puck or Titeresante.

The catalog of the exhibition Puppets. 30 years of Etcétera shows partly the result of our investigations. It is published in Spanish and English, is available in the Parque de las Ciencias , and in various book shops of Madrid and Barcelona: La Central, Laie, Yorick and Panta Rhei.