The famous Sicilian puppet theater was founded in Acireale in 1887 by Mariano Pennisi. He was the last descendant of a family of wandering illiterate puppeteers that could recite from memory the role of each character in traditional historical dramas.
Under his skilled hands, the theater welcomed hundreds of howling spectators every evening. His collection of hand-made Sicilian puppets grew from about thirty when he began to more than one hundred. Signore Pennisi’s successor was Emanuele Macrì.
In 1908, as soon as Pennisi heard about the tragic earthquake in Messina, he departed with a team of workers that helped him for two days and two nights under a beating rain, to exhume the family of his old friend Macrì. Unfortunately under the rubble they only found the small thirteen month-old Emanuele Macrì still alive. He was saved beneath the bodies of his parents where he had fallen asleep. After assisting in the burial of the family, Mariano Pennisi brought the child home and raised him as if it were his own.
As Emanuele grew, he was entranced by the theater. Instead of going to school, he preferred to sit spellbound in front of the stage watching the magical puppets. He was barely sixteen years old when he began to take over the operation. In 1936 as Pennisi was dying of dropsy, he called Emanuele to his side and said "Swear that my Sicilian puppets won´t die with me."
Emanuele’s official debut took place with a performance taken from the History of the Paladins of France and of Giusto Lo Dico, where the character Mambrino steals the fiancée of Reynold. It was a great success, and from that evening every time the children of Acireale saw signore Macrì, they ran to him asking that he tell the story of the adventures of Charles Magno and his paladins. It was the childrens’ enthusiasm that convinced him that he should bring these stories and the puppets to the general public.
Three years later, the Sicilian puppets of Acireale appeared in their garish and pompous costumes on the stage of Bianca of Navarra in Taormina. The puppet performance was a triumph.
Emanuele Macrì was convinced that the only way to save the tradition was to perform with the puppets "on the continent". However, beforehand, he labored in his narrow shop in a corner of the theater and built over fifty new Sicilian puppets among which were Alexander Magno, the Guelfo of Negroponte and Trabalzio. After building the collection to 200 puppets, he started to travel.
The first tour was in Rome, where the performances enchanted both the public and the critics. The tour left Italy and played in Salzburg, Bruxelles and the all the principal cities of Germany. Fueled by the wave of enthusiasm, the theaters’ reputation crossed the ocean where it won to the theatrical Festival of Indianapolis in the USA.
Success came with films: The Vagabond, Air Of Taormina, Plugs And The Paladins; television shows in Australia, Japan, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxemburg, Western Germany, United States, Canada, England, Holland and also the RAI of Italy. After tours in Europe and in America, many shows were mounted for the schools and for the public in Acireale. Shows of Sicilian puppets, with hand-painted ancient scenes were organized in the other Italian cities and in many other foreign countries.
The Theater E. Macrì of Acireale, today, sells a small collection of puppets, scenes, heads and painted paper placards.
Teatro Pupi Macri
Via Galatea, 89
95024 Acireale (CT)
p. +39.095.606272
info@teatropupimacri.it
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