On Friday, some new friends, the girls and I decided to go to a puppet show. Dan and I had discovered the puppet theater while walking through town. I had misread the program and believed that there was a puppet show for toddlers on the previous Friday, March 27. When I arrived then, I was ushered in by Marit, the doyenne of the theater. She told me that there was no show, but that we could stay and the girls could play so that I “didn’t come there for nothing.” There were a bunch of great toys, some of which had been Marit’s when she was a girl. While there, Marit made me a cup of coffee and explained that she had arrived in Amsterdam for university and had founded the theater 35 years ago. Out back, she showed me the garden where children play when the weather is good.
Poppentheater Diridas is named after Diridas, the puppet. When we arrived on Friday, the 4th, there were a few Dutch children there with their parents. The show had two star puppets named Fleidel and Fladdel, after whom the show was named. I couldn’t really follow the storyline, which was interspersed with a snake with hair that lived in the Artis Zoo and new age music, but the kids were entirely captivated! There was only one glitch and that is when Liliane tried to go behind the stage to investigate. I intervened and that was over. Marit came out front a few times and let the kids hold Fleidel and Fladdel and at the end, they got to put the puppets to bed in a special case. We’ll definitely be going back for more shows!
Marit with Diridas
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