The foundations of the Théâtre Peruchet

The Peruchet Theatre was founded in 1929 by Carlo Speder (1899–1985), who served as its first director until 1958. The name "Peruchet" originally came from one of the founder's daughters, referring to "my darling father's theatre." In 1931, the theatre moved to Rue Joseph Lebeau in Brussels city centre. In 1938, it relocated to another townhouse on Chaussée de Charleroi and established an international museum—the first in Belgium dedicated to puppetry. In 1940, the theatre created a puppetry academy to train puppeteers. The foundations had been laid.

The first steps of the Peruchet puppets

In 1950, the founder met a young artist from the Hergé studios, Frans Jageneau (1927–2010). This young man soon became his principal collaborator—serving as director of the Academy from 1952, as well as puppet maker and set designer for the productions. In 1958, during the Brussels World’s Fair and the international festival organized for the occasion by the Théâtre Peruchet, this spirited and creative protégé took up the mantle, continuing the work for over 45 years. More than 2,000 string puppets were built, and over sixty new productions were created.

International creativity

In 1968, the Peruchet Theatre relocated to the small white farmhouse where it is currently based, in the Brussels municipality of Ixelles. That same year marked the meeting with Biserka Assenova, a young graduate in directing and dramaturgy from DAMU (the renowned Academy of Performing Arts in Prague)—specializing in puppet theatre—and a protégé of the great Czech masters Jan Malík and Erik Kolár. From then on, they remained inseparable. The Western European school of puppetry met the Eastern European school.

A visionary director

Bolstered by its network of contacts and artistic friendships, its avant-garde approach to puppetry—while remaining rooted in the tradition of string puppets—and the success of its inaugural 1958 international festival (a landmark post-war event for the art form), the Théâtre Peruchet consistently championed its creativity and artistic vision. Three international festivals were held between 1969 and 1971, bringing the world’s leading figures in puppetry to Brussels once again. The Théâtre Peruchet staged over 200 performances annually, including at least fifty shows at cultural centers across Belgium and at festivals throughout Europe, delighting children in France, Italy, Switzerland, and—above all—Belgium.

The growth of the Peruchet Theater

In 1983, after spending 15 years in storage, the treasures of the Peruchet collections found a new home in a museum built by the Jageneau family. The 1980s and 1990s marked one of the most prolific periods in the theater's entire history. Over the course of two decades, more than 30 productions were created—notably musical shows developed in collaboration with Jeunesses Musicales de Belgique, such as *The Nutcracker*, *The Four Seasons*, *The Child Mozart*, and the *Ami Do* and *Ami Sol* series. The Peruchet collections also continued to expand, acquiring pieces from China, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Burma, and Indonesia. In 1993, the Peruchet Theatre was granted "Royal" status, becoming the first puppet theater in Belgium to hold this title. In 1997, director Frans Jageneau was named a *Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres* at the French Embassy in Brussels—an honor recognizing one of Europe's greatest string-puppet masters of the second half of the twentieth century.

The Significance of the Peruchet Theatre for the World of Puppetry

The Théâtre Royal du Peruchet is the stronghold of string puppetry in Belgium. The theater boasts one of Europe’s most exceptional repertoires of tales (featuring works by Grimm, Andersen, Hoffmann, Kipling, Perrault, Daudet, La Fontaine, and others). It is also renowned for creating the first Tintin puppets—initially under its founder and later, in the 1950s, under its second director, Frans Jageneau—which appeared in music-hall performances, as well as for the *Tintin in Tibet* show created in 1984. Le Peruchet remains the only puppet theater to include this comic book series in its repertoire and to have the capability to stage it. Let us hope it can be performed again soon. In the history of puppetry, Le Peruchet is also associated with the invention of two string-manipulation techniques: the Speder control and the Jageneau control.