Puppeteer: Trapusteros Teatro

Mamulengo de la Mancha proposes an encounter between Cervantes’ Spain and 
the Brazilian popular puppet theatre, Mamulengo. In the show, Don Quixote and 
Sancho Panza leave 17th century Spain and land in the 21st century, in the port of 
Recife and in the middle of the carnival. Crossing the imaginary Lake of Castile (or 
the Atlantic Ocean), the two adventurers are arrested by the local police and treated 
like illegal immigrants, castaways who do not know the local language. From there, 
they meet characters from Mamulengo, local inhabitants of the Northeast. 

The first part of the story is staged with Shadow Theatre and narrates the 
adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza while still in Spain. In the second part, 
which takes place in Brazil, the show is performed with Mamulengo puppets. The 
two actors, two shadow-puppeteers, merge their shadows and silhouettes with the 
puppets, which originate from various master Mamulengueiros from Pernambuco.
 
Trapusteros Teatro was founded in 2004 by Marcos Pena and is based in the small 
town of Aguinaliu in the pre-Pyrenees. Here the company acquired a ruined hut 
which they converted into a 70-seat theatre, La Borda del Titere, where they hold 
regular festivals. In 2011, Trapusteros was joined by Izabela Brochado from Brazil, 
who has a long experience of studying and performing with the Mamulengo 
puppets of Pernambuco. In 2006, Trinity College Dublin awarded Izabela a PhD for 
her study of the Mamulengo and now she divides her time between Spain and 
Brazil, where she teaches at the University of Brasilia

Level 1, Studio
Walk up, no booking required. All welcome