Medialab Prado

Paco Peralta was born in Cádiz in 1930. At the age of five, he saw marionettes for the first time at the popular "Teatro de la Tía Norica" during performances for the Feria del Frío (Winter Festival) in Cádiz. The Teatro de la Tía Norica’s string marionettes and soldiers in a comparsa singing group moved by means of rods were a lasting influence in his later work.

He moved to Madrid and studied Sculpture at the San Fernando Fine Arts School there. He taught Sculpture and Modelling at the Segovia Art School. He won the National Work Award in 1990, the first puppeteer to win this prize.

He has constantly worked on marionette, modelling, balancing, structuring and perfecting the characters.

The Peralta del Amo Teatro de Títeres Company was founded by Francisco Peralta and Matilde del Amo in 1956. Since then, the Company has carried out numerous works with puppets. Their research into puppet movements and participation in festivals has been ongoing.

Their first show premiered in 1956, Bastien et Bastienne, an adaptation of W.A. Mozart’s opera buffa, and at present they continue working in their workshop. Other performances by Paco Peralta and his company include: Romance del Conde Flores, Romance de la Condesita, El retablo de Maese Pedro, Peter and the Wolf (S. Prokofieff), Los melindres de Belisa (Lope de Vega), El paso de las aceitunas (Lope de Rueda), The Sorcerer’s Apprentice (P. Dukas), La cometa (Monserrat del Amo), and If I Were a Grown-Up (E. Janikovsky).

Source: Titerenet.com