Feel-good puppet theater company

La Madone des sleepings is the title of a best-seller by Maurice Dekobra but also the name of a puppet theater company which deserves to be just as well known. Directed by Lucile Bresson, a young woman from Nice and former member of the Yesnoman collective, who learned sculpture in Italy and the art of puppetry in Paris (Théâtre aux mains nues), since 2000 the company has created six shows with a refreshing air of poetry, dreams and fairytales. From the puppet monologue Une Femme seule to La Vie intime de Laura and taking in a new reading of Little Red Riding Hood which looks at how the wolf goes about putting on grandmother’s nightdress, its shows feature 48 papier-mâché characters who use ordinary objects in a most amusing way. The company, based in Marne-la-Vallée, performs in community theaters as well as hospitals, retirement homes, schools, media libraries, game libraries or prisons (Fleury-Mérogis). Alongside its pocket-handkerchief shows, it also offers exhibitions and workshops allowing children from 5 up to learn how to make the characters of its little “paper” theater.