A Crow, A Tailor & A Broken Sound Machine
29 November 2016
Puppets! No matter how old you get this will always be entertaining, don’t you think? So what is puppetry all about? Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets to tell a story. However, contrary to popular belief, it is not limited to the traditional puppets as seen in Pinocchio. There are finger puppets, shadow puppets, Sock puppets, minimalist puppetry and lots more.
Why did Sing’theatre choose Puppetry? We find that puppetry is a great art form which is not only entertaining but also highly interactive which is perfect for kids. It is a way to help them face their anxieties in a light hearted setting, explore their imagination and learn about morals.
On 17th November, the Sing’theatre team packed up our gear and head to GraceHaven to put up a show for our young friends there. The young and even the not-so-young were thoroughly entertained by our 4 awesome puppeteers.
We kicked off the show with the “Tailor”, Stephanie, who came equipped with an impressive miniature setup to entertain us with a story of a coat. The coat was an exquisitely detailed piece of origami work. The story was about how the tailor was able to salvage and not waste materials to make new pieces of garment. It kept us all guessing on what the tailor was going make next! The youngsters quickly warmed up to the show and were actively participating and making very clever guesses on what will be made next while learning that we should not be wasteful.
The “Tailor’s” act was followed by a wacky sock/finger puppet duo act by Chery and Cynthia. The two characters of the show were Ms Kermit and Ms Cockatoo who were trying to find ways to repair their broken sound machine.
It started off with the emotional Ms Kermit trying to show off her Sound machine to the eccentric Ms Cockatoo which was broken. The dynamic duo had the brilliant idea on using the audience to make sounds and bring the machine to live by letting their imagination run free. All of us cracked up the crazy antics of the duo!
Lastly, we had the story of a very thirsty crow performed by Sirfan through shadow puppets. The setup was superb. It definitely exposed the audience to a very traditional form of puppetry. It has visual appeal, audience interaction and even a moral, all the ingredients for a successful show. Indeed, it was very successful and popular, being the favourite of the day!
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!
The youngsters managed to face their insecurities and voice their opinions, explore their imagination and walk away with the moral of the story in mind. Stay tuned to see where our puppets will head to next!
