Dear friends of puppet theatre,
dear audience,

On March 12, 2026, we will launch the 34th edition of the International Wels Puppet Theatre Festival. Once again, we have put a great deal of effort into designing the programme for you and have put together a high-calibre selection. Our aim is to bring you joy, to make you laugh, but also to give you food for thought. Or, as the protagonists of this year’s farewell production say: We want to warm your hearts …

Admittedly, the devilish ladies with arsonist ambitions in “Gottlieb! It’s Burning!” do not voice this invitation without a touch of sarcasm. For the very next sentence is: We want to set you ablaze! And they do not mean this merely metaphorically, nor do they mean only the hearts of the audience, but the entire hall, the theatre, the world …

And when you then take a look around the stage of the world, you might think they have already struck — the arsonists … although here one might set gender-inclusive language aside for once, as there are very few female arsonists or female incendiary agitators, fundamentalists, or dictators in this world. Does the word “dictator” even have a feminine form? Or is that superfluous anyway? Feel free to prove me wrong!

To cut a long story short: when taking a global view, one is increasingly overcome by fear and begins to wonder: can humanity still be saved, or are we heading, eyes wide open, toward our own downfall?

I see art — theatre in particular — as a kind of laboratory in which we can observe ourselves and our shared lives, actions, and effects through simulation. Logically, this might then lead us to choose a different path here or there, to make a different decision, because we have seen in this simulation where a wrong path can lead. But are we, with our artistic work, still being seen and heard at all? Do people want to see and hear us? Are we perhaps too quiet?

On the other hand, it also seems that we are not entirely harmless, if those in power with dictatorial ambitions feel compelled to actively interfere in the arts and attempt to suppress what is said, written, sung, shown, or expressed in other ways. Seen from this perspective, I am often reminded of how privileged we are to pursue our work in a state with (still) genuine democracy. This gives us courage to continue on our chosen path undeterred and to fill the stages — no matter how small — with beauty and ugliness, with silence and noise, laughter and tears, joy and pain, charm and depth … in short, with everything that makes life worth living.

At this point, I would like to thank my team and, in particular, the City of Wels, which makes it possible year after year for us to realise this “laboratory of life” on the city’s stages.

Dear audience, join us on this journey — and a small spoiler: stay with us until the very end, and you will find out live how the story of the two devilish ladies concludes. Let this much be revealed already: I am one of them, and I am very much looking forward to seeing you!

On behalf of the festival team
Gerti Tröbinger