Portuguese puppet company. Marionetas de Lisboa was created in Lisbon in 1985 by a group of actors, playwrights and visual artists with the goal of researching the phenomena of puppetry arts. Company members have included José Carlos Barros, artistic director from 1985 to 1990 (currently director of the Criadores de Imagens Company), Ildeberto Gama, Norberto Vilar, and Alberto Vilar, among others. The company’s first production was D. Quixote e Sancho Pança (Don Quixote and Sancho Panza) by António José da Silva.

In 1986, the company received the Portuguese Association of Theatre Critics Prize for the novelty and quality of their work. Their production of the dramatic allegory, Auto da Barca do Inferno (The Hell Boat Drama), by Gil Vicente (c.1517), received a nomination for the Garrett Prize for best show for young people. The company has produced Portuguese and foreign authors and composers, such as the works of Javier Villafañe, Alfred Jarry, and Mozart whose opera Cosi Fan Tutte was staged for the Porto 2001 – European Capital of Culture event.

The company has a space with a small auditorium, La Casa das Marionetas (The Puppet House), where it develops training workshops. It has also participated in several national and international festivals.

Under José Ramalho, artistic director (since 1990), the principal objective of the company is to link the procedures for the restoration of traditional puppetry arts to the research into new aesthetic forms, while staying faithful to its founding principles: to contribute to aesthetic and artistic renovation and to be a touring repertory company.

(See Portugal.)