La Rose des Vents

Basile et le maléfice, 1994, SAPA Foundation, La Rose des Vents collection

A significant chapter in Swiss theatre history within SAPA’s collections

Collection housed in

Lausanne

The SAPA Foundation has recently acquired the collection of the puppet theatre La Rose des Vents, an innovative theatre group active in Lausanne from 1967 to 2001. The extensive holdings (approx. 1.8 linear metres) document the group’s history and over forty productions through a wide range of archival materials: play texts, designs for sets and puppets, correspondence, and a comprehensive press collection covering tours and projects. These are complemented by audiovisual media that remain to be catalogued. The carefully compiled documentation by Suzanne and Daniel Brunner will also allow the performing-arts.ch database to be expanded with new entries for the group’s productions.

La Rose des Vents was founded in Lausanne by Françoise Ostermann, Daniel Brunner (administrator, director, puppet-maker) and Suzanne Brunner (set designer, author). The group developed an original and exacting approach to puppet theatre and presented its works throughout French-speaking Switzerland between 1967 and 2001, predominantly in schools. Its repertoire included fairy-tale adaptations for children such as L'Oiseau (1987), Basile et le maléfice (1994) and La Cavale des clowns (1997) as well as two pieces for adults: Rien que la vérité (1983) and Le Piège (1987).

The group appeared at various festivals, including the 1974 International Puppet Theatre Festival at the Théâtre de Vidy with the piece Vert-de-pomme. In addition, La Rose des Vents organised its own puppet theatre festivals for adults in 1981 and 1983, before establishing a permanent venue in the Aula of the Collège des Bergières in Lausanne.

The group’s artistic quality also received international recognition: in 1985, it was invited by the Polish director Wieslaw Hejno to perform in Poland and to teach at the puppet theatre school in Wroclaw.

The theatre’s puppet collection was donated to the Swiss Puppet Museum in Fribourg, which in 2023 presented an exhibition entitled Le Théâtre de la Rose des Vents : 35 ans de marionnettes.

The archive preserved by the SAPA Foundation is a valuable resource for documenting this influential theatre group and its importance for the development of puppet theatre in French-speaking Switzerland.