Professional Swiss theatre company established in 1965 in Lausanne by Suzanne and Daniel Brunner and Françoise Ostermann. La Rose des Vents ended its career in 2001 and sold its puppets, props and decors at auction. But during all those years when it was active the theatre created thirty-five productions, almost all meant for children. Inspired by fairy tales, they were staged all over the French-speaking districts of western Switzerland.

The company used all the puppet techniques, except strings, and worked with many professionals such as the musicians Michel Saugy, Boguslaw Klimsa and Anand Deepen; designers/scenographers Suzanne Brunner, Annick Caretti, David Moro, Norberto Chiesa; and actors and directors among whom were Will Maes and Joël Cruchaud. The productions, designed for large stages, were noted for the elegance of the sets, the vivacity of the animation and the soft, simple tone of the dialogue. Thanks to La Rose des Vents, in partnership with the Théâtre Globule, the association Double Jeu was created and, since 1987, it has organized an important season of puppet theatre in Lausanne.

La Rose des Vents presented many of its plays in the large assembly hall of the Collège des Bergières: Basile et le malefic (Basil and the Evil Spirit), Epissi et la commode magique (Epissi and the Magic Cupboard), La Cavale des clowns (The Clowns on the Run), Le Moulin des rêves (The Mill of Dreams), Recto-Verso (Recto-Verso or Both Sides of the Page) …Most of these were written by Suzanne Brunner and directed for the stage by Daniel Brunner.

In 1981 and again in 1983, the Brunners organized an International Festival of Puppetry in Lausanne and, in 1985, they taught at the Faculty of Puppet Theatre in Wrocław (Wydział Lalkarski we Wrocławiu) in Poland.

(See Switzerland.)

Bibliography

  • Kotte, Andreas, Simone Gojan, Joël Aguet, and Pierre Lepori, eds. Theaterlexikon der Schweiz/Dictionnaire du théâtre en Suisse/Dizionario teatrale svizzero/Lexicon da teater svizzer. Berne: Chronos, 2005. (In German, French, Italian, Romansh)