Who we are

Company history

We are a Catalan company entirely dedicated to the puppet, string-puppet and object theaters. Our shows are aimed at both children and families, as well as young and adults.
We play and teach courses everywhere, being highly valued internationally; having received Awards and recognitions participated in hundreds of theatre festivals, spreads over dozens of countries around the world, and performed in up to 6 languages.

Rocamora Teatre

We like to make different

Each of our shows is different. We do not follow pre-established models. We choose the puppetry technique, the staging and the aesthetics that we consider most suitable to each, according to the contents, the dramaturgy and the target of the audience to which it will be addressed. We try not to repeat ourselves ever. We like to take risks and investigate, but without dropping anything the level of interest and professionalism. For this reason, we dedicate a long time to prepare them. And, if they are good on the premiere, are even better as they are performed. We grow up the shows while remaining in repertoire. We do not reject any idea without trying it first. Because we believe strongly in the Work in progress!

The objectives that move us, or why we are puppeteers

Our main priority is to establish through the shows, a nexus imaginative and emotive with the audience, independently of the age and social and cultural factors that accompany it. And the theater of animation allows us vastly. The fascination that the puppets well animated exercise on them generates the magical effect of the symbolic play truer: The Puppets are the characters they represent, do not fool anyone. They play fair! Although always operate "at view", the public attention focuses at all times on the dramatic object "puppet", which becomes the protagonist of the action: it acts, is the actor! Making theater, we make festivity, we make laugh and smile, we make poetry, we make think and react. We practice a liberator atavistic ritual, through which we display conflicts of mankind. We are show, we are education, we are culture.

Historical of the Company

Carles Cañellas, professional puppeteer since 1976, Dean of the Catalan string-puppeteers, considered by the international critics among the most skilled in Europe, founded Els Rocamora (now Rocamora Teatre) in 1982, while he lived and worked with his marionettes in Italy, after having been a member of the groups of Barcelona: T.I.Z. (1974-76), Grupo-Taller de Marionetas (1976-78), Col·lectiu d'Animació de Barcelona (1978-80) and the circus Circ-Cric (1980-81). Lecturer at Theatre Institute of Barcelona, Academic Year 2005-06. He directs shows of other companies and works in cinema and TV as an actor, designer, constructor, and animator of marionettes and objects.
In 1987 joins the Company Susanna Rodriguez Martí, ex-dancer of the contemporary dance Companies: Taba (1982-86), Saez-Taba (1986-87) and Trànsit (1988-89). And it is from this discipline that his contribution is fundamental in providing the always transcendental spatial, rhythmic and choreographic views, both in the general conception of the show and in the manipulation of the puppets. This can be seen in the different shows of the company, but more especially in Identities (2016) of dance with puppets, where she signs the choreography. But his work as a puppeteer goes even further, participating in the construction of puppets and the making of company costumes, performing and giving voice to puppets in many of his shows. She has manipulated with multiple techniques ranging from the string-puppets, to the shadows, through the rod-puppets and so many others, following the evolution and constant experimentation of Rocamora Teatre.
Organizers and Directors of the Moianès Puppet Festival and Espai Animacions, puppetry initiatives center in Calders.

Awards & Recognitions

- Carles Cañellas was named Honorary Member of Unima Catalunya. November 2020.
- Recognition Award to the 35 years of Rocamora Teatre, at the 35 TITIRIJAI Festival , TOPIC Tolosa (Spain).
- Award for Outstanding Dramas at the 2nd Nanchong (China) International Puppet Art Week Festival 2017 by IDENTITATS (Identities).
- Career Recognition for Carles Cañellas at the 27a Fira de Teatre de Titelles de Lleida 2016.
- Career Recognition Award to Carles Cañellas at "La Titellada 2012", 7a Mostra de Titelles de les Roquetes, Barcelona.
- Career Recognition for Carles Cañellas at the IX Festival Internacional de Titelles i Màscares 2011. Esplugues de Llobregat.
- Award to the Best Animation at the "11th. World Festival of Puppet Art 2007" of Prague, Czech Republic, by the show SOLOIST.
- Career Recognition Award to Carles Cañellas "La Luna d'Argento 2004" at the International Puppet Festival "La Luna è Azzurra" of San Miniato (Pisa) Italy.
- Award "Fem Teatre" from the Council of Barcelona, by the show NEGRE SOBRE NEGRE.
- Award to the best Spectacle of the "2a Mostra de Teatre de Titelles de l'Estat espanyol" of Terrassa, by AIR MAIL.
- Award to the best Theatre Show in the "Biennal d'Art Jove 1985" of Barcelona by AIR MAIL.
- Public Mention by the Jury at the "XVIIè Festival Internacional de Teatre" of Sitges by the show AIR MAIL.
... And the most important, the constant recognition of our audiences everywhere.

Shows

DO YOU PLAY? (2021) Tabletop medium-format show. Nonverbal. For children's and families. Indoor or outdoor. Suitable for air transport (2 pax, 1-2 suitcases). Do you play? is the question that is being asked of someone else, to invite him or her to share some play time, to have fun or entertain together. Do you play? is an incitement to the symbolic play, to the free game.
IDENTITATS (Identities) (2016) Medium-format show for one actor, one string-puppet and six masks. Nonverbal. For the young (+10) and adults. Indoor or outdoor. Suitable for air transport (2 pax, 1-2 suitcases).
The purest essence of the Marionette, takes us into an exciting and surprising dramatic search for its own existence, which evolves under various choreographies, with electronic music, light environments and video backgrounds.
-- Award for Outstanding Dramas at the 2nd International Puppet Art Week Festival 2017 Nanchong, China
OLIU, THE LITTLE WOODCUTTER (2010) Medium-format show for two actors, shadow effects and six top rod puppets. For children's or family. Indoor. In dreams everybody can make reality their desires. Behold, a child is afraid that one day his parents separate... A story within a tale... and a tale within a story.
EM FAS FÀSTIC (2009) Table puppet show. Scenic proposal for young people and adults about the sexist violence based on the stories of "Exemplary Crimes" by Max Aub.
EL RETABLO DE MAESE PEDRO (2005) Co-production with Merce Framis and L'Auditori of Barcelona. Staging for shadow theater of the work of Manuel de Falla, on the occasion by the opening concert of the Year of the Book and the Reading, performed by the Jove Orquestra Nacional de Catalunya (National Youth Orchestra of Catalonia), under the baton of Maestro Manel Valdivieso and the participation of two opera singers and one actor.
SEARCHING THE SUN (2002) Medium-format show for two actors and top rod puppets. For all audiences. Indoor or outdoor. Based on a traditional Chinese tale. Coproduction with Biel Porcel and Binixiflat Teatre. Created in collaboration with the NGO "Veterinarians Without Borders" (Spain).
THE NEW CLOTHES (2002) Medium-format show for two actors, masks and sixteen puppets of different techniques, the main one the marionette. For children or families and all audiences. Indoor or outdoor. Free adaptation of H. C. Andersen's tale "The Emperor's New Clothes", with its own content like the migration, labor exploitation, and Fair trade.
SMALL SUICIDES (2000) Small-format show for one actor and animated objects. In English. For the young and adults. Indoor. Suitable for air transport (2 pax, 1 suitcase). Recreation in collaboration with Gyula Molnár, the author of "PICCOLI SUICIDI", performed around the world with big success. A classic play of the Object Theater and cult piece among the experts.
SOLOIST (1997) Festive show of medium format for one actor and six string-puppets. In English. For all audiences, with versions for children or families and for young and adults. Indoor or outdoor. Suitable for air transport (2 pax, 3 suitcases). Seven funny, poetic, surprising stories, with a common spirit: the verisimilitude of real life of the marionettes.
-- Award to the Best Animation at the "11th. World Festival of Puppet Art 2007" of Prague, Czech Republic.
FABLES OF LA FONTAINE (1997) Funny adaptation in verse of seven fables of Jean de La Fontaine, with actors, hand puppets, rod puppets and marionettes.
AUBUSTER (1993) Exciting work with string-puppets, without words. Comic metaphor about the journey through life, from "birth" till the encounter with "death".
EL PERSEGUIDOR (1990) Coproduction with Festival de Tardor of Barcelona, Fira de Teatre of Tàrrega and Teatre Obert. Dramatization for actors, objects and puppets of the story by Julio Cortázar.
RULETA RUSSA (1989) Product of studio work with the playwright José Sanchis Sinisterra are the six monologues that make up this experimental piece for actors, which proposes a risky exercise over the different modalities of the monologue. A reflection about the expression forms of the theatrical language.
FENÒMENS (1988) Collection of sketches and gags made with string-puppets for the TV Show "filiprim" by Josep Maria Bachs on TV3 (Catalonian public channel), with whom we have participated also in the programs “Dicciopinta” and "La Parada".
NEGRE SOBRE NEGRE (1986) Marionettes and black humor for adults.
-- Award "Fem Teatre" from the Council of Barcelona.
AIR MAIL (1985) Audacious production staging as complex as attractive, inspired by the movies, novels and comics of American B-series comics. Acknowledged by audiences and critics, domestic and foreign, as a capital piece of Puppet Theater.
-- Public Mention by the Jury at the "XVIIè Festival Internacional de Teatre", Sitges.
-- Award to the best Theatre Show in the "Biennal d'Art Jove 1985", Barcelona.
-- Award to the best Show of the "2a Mostra de Teatre de Titelles de l'Estat espanyol", Terrassa.
LA MALETA (1982) Following the style that we started in the Col·lectiu d'Animació of Barcelona, actors and puppets act together, creating humorous and unbelievable situations. More than 500 performances at festivals and theater circuits of 9 countries.

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Dossier with the history of the Rocamora Teatre company