About Cia Tu Mateixa Marionetes
Based in São Paulo Since 2015, Cia Tu Mateixa Marionetes was founded in 2014 in the city of Barcelona, where the puppeteer, clown and actress Júlia Barnabé graduated in pedagogy Jacques Lecoq Physical Theater at international school Estudis Berty Tovías and learned to build string puppets at Taller de Marionetas de Pepe Otal, a traditional puppet research and creation studio.
Created from the confluence of the languages of puppetry, physical theater, circus and humor, the company takes the Catalan name “tu mateixa” which means “yourself”, since the puppets and the scenography are built by hand, in wood, by the artist, who also signs the authorial dramaturgy of her shows.
In 2016, the co. premiere of the show “Laia and the Flight of Imagination” and, since then, it has been touring several theater and circus festivals around the world, having performed in France, Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal, Italy, Slovenia, Russia, Algeria and Paraguay, as well as several cities in Brazil.
Foto Rogener Pavinski
In 2019, the Company was awarded the Cleyde Yáconis Award from the São Paulo Municipal Department of Culture with the show "Laia and the Flight of Imagination". In 2021, was created the show “Cabinet of Curiosities” in partnership with Rocío Walls and directed by Carla Candiotto. In 2022, the show went on an international tour, performing more than 70 times at theater and circus festivals in Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, France, Italy and Portugal, as well as performing at festivals in six Brazilian states. In 2023, the company awarded the 7th Circus Promotion Notice from the São Paulo Municipal Department of Culture to perform with “Laia and the Flight of Imagination”.
In addition to the shows, the company offers workshops on making string puppets and other puppet techniques, physical theater, puppet manipulation, circus and clowning, as well as scenic guidance for theater groups. Júlia Barnabé acted as an actress-puppet handler in the TV series "Partimpim'' with songs by Adriana Calcanhoto for Globo Play and the Gloob channel and participated in the cast of puppet handlers in the show "Pedro e Lobo" with OER - Orquestra Experimental of Repertório directed by Muriel Matalon, puppets by Marco Lima and narration by Sandra Annenberg at Theatro Municipal de São Paulo in 2023.