Bent Rasmussen
Mythe, Marionet and Man
Just as a marionette hangs by a thread, so does the premise of a myth. They both perform at the end of a line, the myth and the marionette.
The latter has few or multiple strings. It is my impression that the more strings it has, the more lifelike it is in its gesture, attitude and movement.
The spectacular, wise, tragic-comic theme of human existence winds alone around one invisible, though obvious thread, which is of vital importance to a myth, and which we humans call truth when we discover it.
As humans seek out the myth in order to be more intelligent, the marionette endeavors to find it and imitate it in its own way, in order to be able to speak to others. The marionette might possibly, in a fleeting moment, show us a truth, or at least a bit of a truth.
Puppets have travelled far to visit us. They have brought along their own stories. For a while they will be sitting by the banks of the number one mythmaker of this area, my childhood's Mississippi, Gudenåen.
Perhaps they will see their reflections in its slow current, and the light laughter of the King of the Stream will sing for them and play tunes in the rushes on a moonlit night.
The marionettes will be spellbound, as we are of them, and they will come back here again and again, as it is now their custom. From my heart thank you very much.
Bent Rasmussen is an author, co-founder of this puppetry festival and former member of the organization committee.