Gabriela Céspedes and Fagner Gastaldon on a summer of Lambe Lambe
A box; a spectator; a puppetry experience like no other. This summer, puppeteer Gabriela Céspedes brings an extraordinary artform from the sunshine of South America to the streets of the UK. Her specialism is Lambe Lambe, a puppetry performance for a single audience member, lasting only four minutes. We were intrigued to know more about her visit and the UK puppeteers she will be collaborating with so asked Gabriela and Fagner Gastaldon from PuppetSoup to stop by for a chat.
Hello both. Thank you so much for finding time to tell us about your extraordinary work. Can you explain what Lambe Lambe is and where it originates from?
G: Lambe Lambe Theatre was born in Brazil in 1989, created by artists Denise dos Santos and Ismine Lima. It emerged from the use of old photography boxes as small stage spaces, inspired by travelling photographers who developed images in public squares and ‘licked’ the paper to check the process.
F: They decided to put their show inside a box and named the art form ‘Teatro Lambe Lambe’ after the hooded camera name ‘Camera Lambe Lambe’. Ahead of Gabriela’s visit, on Friday 24 April PuppetSoup will be hosting a live conversation about Lambe Lambe with myself in conversation with Denise Di Santos, who alongside Ismine Lima, created and named this form of theatre, in Brazil in the 1980s.
What happens during the performance?
G: This style of puppetry is poetic. Inside a small box, a story unfolds for a single spectator. It is not just about looking through a viewer, but about entering an intimate, miniature, and vibrant world, where objects, puppets, and light construct their own language.
In those brief minutes — between two and five — something more than a play happens: an encounter occurs. A unique and unrepeatable moment between the creator and the observer. It is a theatre of closeness and wonder, where the small reveals its power and art appears as a delicate ritual, an invitation to see in a different way.
F: Lambe Lambe creates a complete theatrical experience using puppets, light, sound, and movement. It’s a unique artform that has spread across Brazil and South America and in recent years has expanded across the globe.
Gabriela: How did you create your miniature puppet theatre, and how does the puppeteer operate it?
G: I created my first Lambe Lambe Theatre performance in 2012 under the guidance of master Luciano Bugmann. The process began with an automatic writing exercise as a trigger for the story. After several revisions of the text and the construction of cardboard models, we selected the manipulation techniques and designed the final box.
Dramaturgy in this genre is about synthesis. It is a delicate ‘kitchen’ where characters, visual aesthetics, mechanisms, lighting, soundtrack, and dramatic action must be balanced.
In my first performance, Libertad, I explored various techniques to animate “The Feather” (the central character), ultimately using rods from the back.
Since then, my techniques have evolved. Today I develop performances that challenge me in traditional animation, incorporating direct animation, hand puppetry, rods from below, and even projections. I understand that objects also think and choose us. My role as a puppeteer is to follow the object, engage with its logic, and move through its own story to build a character that lives and feels. We seek to create poetry: for the object to transcend and achieve believable actions that the spectator can decode to complete the theatrical ritual.
Gabriela, tell us about your show and how the intimacy of the puppetry style reflects on the performance.
G: In Teatro Lambe Lambe, a secret is always kept. In my show Black Cat, that secret lives in a small empty theatre. The piece takes place in a dressing room, where a woman leaves everything prepared for a moment of transition. Is it a dream? Is it death? Is it reality? These questions run through the work.
The staging combines different techniques, such as puppets and projections, within an intimate device that enhances the spectator’s experience. In that extreme closeness, every detail gains intensity: light, gesture, silence.
Black Cat was part of the international sextet Instantes de Passagem, a co-production by Iberescena with artists from Brazil and Chile. This project brought together six boxes that explored, from different perspectives, that fragile and mysterious moment of transition between life and death.
Since 2012, my journey in Teatro Lambe Lambe has been deep and sustained. I have explored this language as a creator, director, teacher, and producer, taking it to festivals, squares, schools, theatres, and unconventional spaces. In each performance, I confirm the power of the small: the ability to move through a whisper, to stop time in a glance, to create an intimate encounter that transforms.
So Fagner, you work with PuppetSoup in London who have been creating, performing and training in Teatro Lambe Lambe for a number of years. Now you will be collaborating with Gabriela for a Canalside Training Course this month. What should we expect from that?
F: I have been teaching Teatro Lambe Lambe for over a decade to the English speaking world after performing this artform since the early 2000s in both my native Brazil and also now the UK. I offer both in-person and online courses in this special artform, which are authentic to its Brazilian roots, culture and heritage.
My new Canalside Course is a unique in-person offering in collaboration with The Puppet Barge and I have invited Gabriela to join the group for one day to share her experiences of performing Teatro Lambe Lambe. The course will culminate in a special day of public performances on Sunday 14 June, at the Barge which will be the first event of its kind in the UK, giving a taste of a Lambe Lambe festival, such as we have in Brazil and South America!
Do you have other Lambe Lambe events planned for the summer?
F: Absolutely! As well as the Canalside Course we will be another offering of the online Teatro Lambe Lambe course. I will be performing my Lambe Lambe shows at several private events and also at the Edinburgh Fringe street festival for a couple of days.
You will both be performing live at the May Puppet Fayre at Covent Garden this year. Can anyone turn up to see the shows?
G: Of course! It is a free event and my show Black Cat is suitable for all ages. The beauty of miniature theatre is that it fascinates children and adults alike.
F: I still have and perform ‘The World’s Smallest Punch and Judy’ Lambe Lambe show which I created for the 2012 May Fayre in Covent Garden and have performed it regularly since. I will be performing two different shows of Teatro Lambe Lambe at this year’s event, so there will be a selection of exciting work for people to choose from.
Gabriela: What are your plans after your visit to London? Will you be working with other puppetry organisations while you’re in Europe?
There are many collaborators. My visit to Europe is thanks to an invitation from puppeteer and friend Nina Franco, who organises the gathering ‘NuMa (Tra Nuvole e Macerie) Festa dei Burattini’ in Bussana Vecchia, Italy. From this meeting, the entire tour began to take shape.
In the UK, I will be working on projects with David Duffy, who made it possible for me to be in England and organised my entire tour in collaboration with Fagner and with UNIMA UK.
I will then continue my journey through Europe sharing two performances, Black Cat (Teatro Lambe Lambe) and Niña Latido (puppet theatre, objects, and storytelling) across Italy and in Bulgaria and Croatia. It is a network of encounters, affection, and collective work that makes it possible for my company, Gabriela Clavo y Canela theatre, to travel and continue growing.
Thanks so much to Gabriela and Fagnor for telling us about this incredible work. You can see them both perform at the May Puppet Fayre in Covent Garden on Sunday 10 May.
Find out about all this summer’s Lambe Lambe activities at the PuppetSoup website via the link below.
