Venue: Royal Theatre Toone
Town: Brussels, BE

The Royal Theatre Toone (French: Théâtre royal de Toone; Dutch: Koninklijk Poppentheater Toone), often simply referred to as Toone, is a folkloric theatre of rod marionettes in central Brussels, Belgium, active since 1830, and the only traditional Brussels puppet theatre still in operation. Originally founded by Antoine "Toone" Genty in the Marolles/Marollen district of Brussels, since 1966, the theatre has been located at the end of two narrow alleyways, at 66, rue du Marché aux Herbes/Grasmarkt, near the Grand-Place/Grote Markt (Brussels' main square). The theatre's premises also house a tavern and a small puppetry museum. The current director is Nicolas Géal, also known as Toone VIII. The theatre still puts on puppet plays in the Brusselian dialect (also sometimes referred to as Marollian), the traditional Brabantian dialect of Brussels. Performances are also given in other languages interspersed with Brusselian, always in the spirit of zwanze, a sarcastic form of folk humour considered typical of Brussels. Around 1830, Antoine "Toone" Genty (1804-1890) opened his poechenellenkelder (lit. 'puppet cellar'), a traditional theatre of marionettes in the Marolles/Marollen district of Brussels. The origin of Brussels' puppetry stems three centuries earlier from an order issued by Philip II of Spain, son of Charles V, who, hated by the population, had the city's theatres closed to prevent them from becoming gathering places likely to encourage hostility towards the Spanish authorities. The people of Brussels had then replaced the actors with poechenelles (puppets) in underground theatres. At the start of the 19th century, puppet theatres were one of the most successful forms of entertainment for adults in Brussels' working class neighbourhoods. They allowed for great freedom of tone, using a varied repertoire borrowed from popular legends, tales of chivalry, operas, and even religious or historical pieces, broken down into acts and interpreted very freely. They were als