"Țăndărică" Theater — Local services in Bucharest

The best puppet theatre in Romania. Tandarica Puppet Theatre was founded in 1945. The first department of Tandarica Theatre marionettes department - was lead by the actress Lucia Calomeri, with the help of the stage designers Elena Pătrășcanu, Alexandru Brătășanu, Lena Constante and Ileana Popescu. The first team was composed from the director Nicolae Massim and the marionettists Dorina Tănăsescu, Antigona Papazicopol, Lucia Georgescu and others. În 1949 Margareta Niculescu (the current honorary president of UNIMA), the new manager of the institution, founded the puppets department, along with Renee George Silviu (stage director) and Ștefi Nefianu, Fifi Bradu, Rita Stoian, Carmen Stamatiade – puppeteers. Later, joined different plastic artists like Liviu Ciulei, Ella Conovici, Ioana Constantinescu, Mioara Buescu, direcors like Ștefan Lenkisch and other puppeteers like Brândușa Zaița Silvestru, Justin Grad, Mișu Prujinski, Costel Popovici, Valeriu Simeon. Big director names mounted here: Radu Penciulescu, Silviu Purcărete, Cătălina Buzoianu, Cristian Pepino, Victor Ioan Frunză, Ildiko Kovacs, Irina Niculescu, Felix Alexa, Ion Caramitru and others.Before 1989 Tandarica Theatre hosted performances which imposed new ways of expression in animation theatre: Humor on strings, Little prince, Book with Apollodor, The three wives of Don Cristobal, Me and the dead matter, Cabaret-issimo, Peter Pan, Ninigra and Aligru, Peter and the wolf, Tyl Eulenspiegel, Petrușka, Don Quijote. Also, here were held four editions of the International Puppets Theatre Festival, in 1958, 1960, 1965 and 1998. In 1978 Tandarica Theatre won the Erasmus Prize for the important contribution at the formation of the aesthetic profile of contemporary puppet theatre. Tandarica Theatre made a lot of tours, took part at festivals on almost all the continents, winning prizes for creation and interpretation. The theatre was also known as a place for artistic resistance against the Communist Regime, with the famous Nocturnes...

The theater itself is very nice, cozy with nice decorations. The puppets design is not very appealing, often they are hardly recognisable as what they supposed to represent and are not particularly beautiful. The shows are quite loud and mostly began in dark setups with synth sounds. This combo might prove to be scary for little children who might not pass this initial feel to get to the more colorful and we'll lit scenes. It's a shame, because the shows as a whole are worthwhile and that dark intro is not justified by the story. The scenographers should take notice on how little children books and YouTube channels set the mood, the first impression is very important. The theater doesn't have it own parking lot and the surrounding narrow street are quite busy, expect to park far from the theater. The on-line tickets must be printed, even though they have a bar code the check-in personnel is not equipped with...

I have known this theatre for about 40 years and I'm still mesmerized each time I go to see a play. In the past - with my parents, nowadays with my children. Since we don't live in Romania - we can only go every 2-3 years. Extremely well kept building, clean and plenty facilities, kind and helpful staff, and foremost - brilliant actors. The plays are very nicely adapted for the adults too, mirroring the social events we live nowadays and satirically attacking the day to day issues we confront with - like corruption, local Barrons, plagiarism, bribery etc. Worth every penny, go as often as you can - you'll be supporting the theatre and enlightening yourself. Thank...