Tickets go on sale for the 2025 World Puppet Festival in France
Tickets are now available for one of Europe’s biggest festivals, featuring some of the world’s smallest stars.
The 2025 World Puppet Festival (Festival Mondial des Théâtres de Marionnettes) has been a major event in the life of the French Ardennes region for more than 60 years now, and will be staged in Charleville-Mézières from Friday, September 19, to Sunday, September 28, 2025.
One of the world’s premier events when it comes to puppetry and the performing arts, it brings together over 80 French and international companies, along with around 155,000 creators with an interest in the art, researchers, programme managers from all over the world, journalists and, of course, festival-goers of all ages and backgrounds.
As with every previous Festival, the 23rd edition will feature playful and festive programme, accessible to all, and will take place on the magnificent Place Ducale, with major eye-catching opening and closing ceremonies.
Named, in recent years, as being amongst the world’s ‘Top 20 Events to Travel For”, the FMTM celebrates the art of puppetry every two years, and has grown exponentially since its inception 1941 when a 17-years old Jacques Felix first introduced a puppet theatre as a means of lifting spirits during the German occupation of the town.
Over the past 64 years, it has been able to deliver artistic excellence alongside a spirit of celebration and this year, artists from every corner of the globe will once again will take over every theatre, hall and public space available - where they will work their magic to transforms this quiet, historic centre into a densely populated and highly atmospheric World Capital of Puppets.
Home to the largest gathering of puppeteers in the world, Charleville-Mézières is also a centre for the creation and support of artists, and houses the Pôle International de la Marionnette (International Puppet Centre), which has only recently been created to bring together the festival offices, the Higher National School of Puppet Arts (ESNAM) and the International Puppet Institute (IMM) - making this the largest centre in the world for this art form. As such, The French Ardennes can easily stake its claim as the “World Capital of Puppets”.
Many of the events during the Festival are free to attend. Prices for paid-for events range from 6€ to 20€. Full ticket details can be found at https://billetterie.festival-marionnette.com/?lng=2#.
Just three hours' drive time from Calais, and linked from the UK with the high-speed TGV trains (via Paris of Lille), further details about The French Ardennes can be found at https://www.ardennes.com/en/.