At this session, revisit some of your favourite childhood fables through different forms of puppetry
The Three Little Pigs being performed with glove puppets
Socks, strings and sticks — those are our go-to everyday guys to affix cute puppets in no time. And with just that much of a buttress, we blow life into fictional characters. They borrow voices to talk, and shade and light to act or walk — all for unfeigned delight. Although adults cheerily soak in such joy, puppetry has always tickled a child’s imagination more. Inspired by this ingenuous connection, a weekend event will perform popular fables through novel puppet-play.
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Presented by art and culture platform Hooted1ce, and Ethiros Theatre Group, Let’s Puppet aims to captivate children with variety. “Puppetry does cast an enchanting spell. Sometimes kids find companions in paper/shadow manifestations of characters. Our performance involves glove, shadow and glow-in-the-dark puppets. I am certain that the latter kind will take our little audiences by surprise,” says Nishil Kamalan, director of the act.
A shadow puppet performance from Let’s Puppet
About the need for dissimilar forms, he notes that while children get charmed easily, they also lose interest in a format in a short span. “We are presenting four fairy tales — The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and Lion and the Mouse.” However, the main attraction of the show will be an action song enacted with the help of ultraviolet lights.
The staging is usually followed by a puppet-making workshop where kids learn to make two types of puppets, which they can take back home as souvenirs. Kamalan shares that the last act of the show, the action song, will witness the space turn into a rave party for tiny-tots. “With glow-in-the-dark puppets on the stage, we take the feel of puppet-play a notch higher by handing out glow wristbands to each member in the audience. So the setting resembles a live electronic music gig. Also, we mixed and matched forms to do away with the monotony in visibility.” He adds that adults will enjoy the event, too. Based on his experience in the field, Kamalan mentions parents who stay glued to their phone screens while their children watch a play. He feels, in this case, the experimental play-act will successfully hold on to their attention as well.
Nishil Kamalan
Let’s Puppet features actors Kartik Subramaniam, Diona DSouza, Bhagyesh Patil and Shane Rosario, among others. The background music that uses a guitar and cajon add to an immersive experience.
Audience feedback can be good and bad, but at times, it’s plain hilarious. Kamalan recalls a funny input from a parent that he can never forget: “In the story, The Three Little Pigs, there’s a section where a pig falls into boiling hot water. In our version, we say a bowl of hot Maggi to monitor the effect of such consequences. This one time, a guardian walked up to me and requested me to not use Maggi as they don’t wish to give their kid unhealthy eating ideas.”
Age Group Four years and above
On September 16; 5.30 pm
At Adagio, Rukhsana Manor, 237 B, Chapel Road, Ranwar, Bandra West.
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Cost Rs 399
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