Canadian company founded in 1964 by Nicole Lapointe and Pierre Régimbald (Montreal, 1941-2004). Nicole Lapointe and Pierre Régimbald first met in the company run by Micheline Legendre (Les Marionnettes de Montréal) where they both worked for several years. While on tour in Poland they were struck by the importance of puppet theatre in people’s everyday lives and decided to found Les Marionnettes Pierre Régimbald – Nicole Lapointe. For the next ten years their productions were shown in Montreal, in the Rideau Vert Theatre’s newly created section for youth, where they initiated a first generation of children into theatre. During that period, their work consisted mainly of fairy-tale adaptations using glove puppets and rod puppets, among them Farfadou et Farfadette (1964) and Aladin et la lampe merveilleuse (Aladdin and His Magic Lamp, 1967).

The 1970s marked the beginning of a spectacular career in television. Régimbald and Lapointe created and manipulated characters that are still beloved by today’s youth: Nic et Pic (1972-1977) and the educational programme Passe-Partout (1977-1987).

The contribution of Régimbald and other professional puppeteers to television hastened the evolution of puppetry in Quebec. First there was Bobino et Bobinette (1957-1985). This greatly loved show, which had something of a cult following, led to the creation of other situation comedies starring puppets, such as Pacha et les chats (1991-1994, later dubbed to English for the US market as Kitty Cats, 1992-1997) and La maison de Ouimzie (Wimzie’s House, 1995-1996, and in the United States on PBS, 1997-2001); both series have been translated and sold to more than fifty countries. This phenomenon attests to the expertise in televised puppetry developed in Quebec.

Pierre Régimbald was also a great teacher who inspired the talents of several exceptional artists. He taught puppetry at the Université du Québec à Montréal for many years and served as a consultant for the National Theatre School of Canada.

(See Canada.)