AUDIENCE AND CRITICS REACTIONS TO MAINSTRING THEATRE PERFORMANCES

"I loved the way Darlene and Bruno Frascone made the puppets so real! They are wonderful performers and their marionettes pure magic" "The marionette show was outstanding! IÕve never seen anything like this!" (young spectators) "Bruno and Darlene Frascone are perfectionists and passionists devoted to their art. Their production can be easily compared to the suave aesthetics of the world of Walt Disney". (L'Ardennais - World Marionette Festival) "The manipulation is so subtle that we tend to forget who they are and drift off into an imaginary world. The sensation of life that they transmit to them is fantastic. (Humanité Dimanche - Paris)

PUPPETEERS AND THEIR PUPPETS

Puppeteer Bruno Frascone, a native of Normandy, France, has been hand crafting his marionettes and performing with them for 20 years, in venues as varied as educational programs for the French school system to the prestigious Charleville-Mézières world festival of puppets in Ardennes where he received accolades from critics and fellow performers alike. Each character is hand carved, using woods of different density according to the weight required for each specific part. Mainstring Theatre's first inspiration came from W.A. Dwiggins, an American puppeteer who wrote a handbook entitled "Marionette in motion" in 1939. Frascone and his American born wife Darlene's scope of work includes staging their shows, creating the marionettes and costumes, carving the figures and constructing the stage sets.

Bruno also writes and records the music, which is an important part of the show. Bruno and Darlene Frascone are constantly evolving in the technique of marionette making, improving upon its balance and capacities. This permanent state of research generates the results we see today in their performances : marionettes that move about in a strangley natural way, fluid motion that transmits important details and mimics human behaviour, surprising and enchanting the audience.