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Yeranuhi Soghoyan

Pulling the Strings: The Petrosyan Family Continues to Entertain at Gyumri’s Alikhanyan Puppet Theater

It’s a common belief that puppeteers need to be young since manipulating puppets during an entire performance requires physical strength. However, that’s not always the case.

Garnik and Arshaluys Petrosyan have been working at the Gyumri ‘s Alikhanyan Puppet Theater for more than fifty years. Their youngest son, 35-year-old Vahagn Petrosyan, has been working with them for the past twelve. The theater is their second home.

"I dreamt of becoming a clergyman, but I became an actor instead," says 70-year-old Garnik Petrosyan. "And since he didn’t become a clergyman, he wanted me to become one instead, but the theater had a stronger pull on me," laughs Vahagn, recalling his two months in seminary, which ended with him applying secretly to the theater institute.

In the Petrosyan family, it’s only Vahagn’s wife Nelly and their two children that have no connection to the theater, although theater-related discussions continue at home as well.

Garnik Petrosyan became an actor when he was just eleven. Seniors in Gyumri still remember him as Hovhannes Tumanyan’s “Giqor”, which was his first role. After graduating from school in Gyumri, Mr. Petrosyan studied and worked in Yerevan for several years, returning to Gyumri in the end. Having worked in the drama theater for a short period, he soon moved to the Alikhanyan Puppet Theatre.

There, he met his future wife Arshaluys. She says she came to the theatre in 1967, after failing to study in Yerevan Theatre Institute because of family issues.

The Petrosyans may have different points of view regarding many issues, but they have a clear position regarding the art of puppetry. They claim that it’s the best way to educate the younger generation and bring them closer to the art.

"For fifty years, we have been trying to give the children the miracle they expect when entering the puppet theater," says Mrs. Petrosyan. The puppeteers almost always are able to determine what age group children are in the hall. It also helps them make accurate vocal accents during the performance.

"Puppetry is a sophisticated art. It’s a demonstrative art, where a human being and a non-breathing object are merged, and a puppet becomes alive in the hands of the puppeteer. The puppets are heavy, and we keep them up all the time. For some reason, this art is now the most neglected in terms of salaries. While puppeteers were paid more than drama theatre actors in the Soviet era, now they barely earn the minimum salary of Armenia - 55 thousand drams. And if you take that in mind, yes, it turns out that we are devotees,” says Mr. Petrosyan.

Garnik Petrosyan has staged around fifty performances. He can’t recall the number of the roles he played. He speaks about the lack of children's plays and invites the attention of children's writers to this issue.

Vahagn, in turn, dreams about the shadow theater reaching Gyumri someday.

Mrs. Petrosyan says that she’s glad that despite the difficulties young actors are attracted to the puppet theater. “They come with love, and we are delighted to share our knowledge with them,” she adds.  

"I would like us to be able to hold our own next to the Japanese, Indonesian, and Chinese puppet theaters. These theaters are just stunning, and their artistry is much more advanced. The Armenian puppet theater has a lot of work ahead of it to get on par,” says Mr. Petrosyan.

Top photo by Gurgen Ginosyan

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