Nearly all of Mumbai's culture brigade have come together for the very first time. The common ground: `Impressions'. An Euro-Indian Puppetry Festival -- the first of its kind in the country. A collaboration among the Alliance Francais, Max Mueller Bhavan, British Council, Prithvi and the NCPA, the festival promises to leave behind a lasting impression. Specially since the timing could not have been better.

Puppetry as an art form is virtually going through a renaissance in Europe and Asia. Old, classical forms -- shadow puppetry, glove puppets, string marionettes -- are being revived, and newer forms with life-size puppets are being created to bring alive the magic of this ancient art. Among the five groups arriving in the city on the eve of the festival starting Sept 16, two are Indian -- the Kumara Tirupal Company and Gitanjali Kolanad's troupe.

The restare as European as they can get, at least in theme. Theatre Du Petit Miroir, a popular French group, recreates Aladin, the mythical fairy tale from The Thousand and One Nights. These Chinese puppets, perfected and groomed by Catherine Larue and Jean-Luc Penso, appear, disappear, change, fly and fight to cast their spell on the audience. P Jacob, Director of the Alliance Francais, Mumbai, is as optimistic about Aladin as about the festival itself. "Puppetry as an art has been an integral part of the artistic traditions of both Europe and Asia. So we were only too open to the idea of Euro-Indian festival. I'm sure the festival will receive great response from the Indian audience," says he. Dr Anna Winterberg, director of the Max Mueller Bhavan, adds, "It was an opportunity for all the cultural centres to collaborate for an art that all the countries share."

The German Figurentheter Wilde & Vogel's Exit, A Hamlet Fantasy, is an orchestration of music, movement, language and image. Grotesque figures dominatethis gloomy, yet amusing experimental piece, expressed in a gibberish version of Shakespearian text.

The British troupe of Stephen Mottram is an equally modernist concept. It relies on a theatre language created by Mottram that uses electro-acoustic music to the movements of marionettes. The most lyrical of the lot, Mottram's creation, In Suspension, sounds more like a dramatised concert than plain drama.

All this and more promise a fresh theatrical experience for children and adults alike. In fact, the universal language of puppetry and its potential to offer different levels of interpretation -- from the simplest and the comic to the most complex -- is what this festival is likely to reaffirm. The history of puppetry is, in itself, an interesting artistic evolution.

The first puppets, as we know, were linked to religion. Which is why puppetry dates back to ancient Greece and Egypt, the cradles of civilisation. Thereafter, it turned more and more secular, adapting to different times in history,faithfully recounting lives of legendary heroes. The mute puppet has come a long way ever since, gradually transforming itself to a powerful dramatic tool.

In the festival, the two Indian troupes are closer to its ancient form in theme, if not in treatment. Gitanjali Kolanad, an expert on Bharata Natyam, bases her dance drama, Walking Naked, on the life and muse of the 12th century South Indian saint, Mahadevi. A poetic narration of Mahadevi's encounter with her husband and two sages -- all three puppets made of ice-melts, paper and cloth -- burn to form a luminous sphere inside which, the performance takes place.

The Kumara Tirupal Company's Lankadahanam and Viratapuarvam & Uttaragograhanam are classic dramatic episodes from The Ramayana and The Mahabharata -- Hanuman's burning of Lanka and Arjun's brilliant disguise as a eunuch to retrieve the cows of the Virata kingdom.

From a Hamlet fantasy to the burning of Lanka, the variety and scope of this festival is sure to leave the Mumbaitheatre-goer thirst for more.