Belgian company dedicated to young school audiences. Théâtre du Tilleul was founded in 1981 by Carine Ermans and Mark Elst on their return from a one-year study of puppetry in Prague. They used rod marionettes (French: tringles) for their production of Le Jardin (The Garden) based on a work by Jiří Trnka, and for Les Tréteaux de Maître Pierre (Master Peter’s Puppet Show) by Manuel de Falla. In 1983, they performed a shadow play, Crasse-Tignasse, based on Der Struwwelpeter (Shock-headed Peter), a work by Heinrich Hoffmann, which they reprised in 2004 at the Théâtre Les Tanneurs.

The Théâtre du Tilleul focused on a mixed technique of shadow, storytelling and live music, favouring children’s literature, and created astonishing aesthetic shows with live vocals and subtle manipulation: La fameuse Invasion de la Sicile par les Ours (The Famous Invasion of Sicily by the Bears) by Dino Buzzati, Max et Moritz by Wilhelm Busch. In 1996, the Tilleul theatre collaborated with the company Créativité et Handicap Mental to create Fantasmagories. In 1999, they produced Moi, Fifi, perdu dans la Forêt (Me, Fifi, Lost in the Forest) by Grégoire Solotareff. In 2002, Théâtre du Tilleul delivered a musical reading, without shadows, of Contes d’automne (Autumn Stories) by Solotareff.

On three occasions to date, Théâtre du Tilleul has organized the festival, Voyage en Théâtre d’Ombres (Journey into Shadow Theatre), in 1994, 1997 and 2000, and has offered internships and workshops.

(See Belgium.)