Four Marionette Plays

Rome in the 1950s celebrated the end of the war with a burst of creative energy. The Beckers made it their home and established a place in which writers, actors, painters met and were entertained by witty marionette shows, written by John Becker and designed, produced and directed by Virginia Campbell. Among their guests, and sometime participants in the productions, were Robert Graves, Leontyne Price, Aaron Copeland, Alice B. Toklas, Karen Blixen, Ingrid Bergman, Iris Tree, Lady Diana Cooper, Bill Weaver, Eugene Walter, Richard and Mickey Fleisher, Christopher Fry, Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy. Federico Fellini also showed up on occasion, and found inspiration for certain scenes in "La Dolce Vita." These witty, delicate plays are very much of their time and place but even now, sixty years after they were first performed, they retain sufficient power to charm any reader.