Puppetry is not just about wooden dolls

Some tall and mighty, others fluffy and tiny - puppets have taken over the Delhi's culture scene

Some tall and mighty, others fluffy and tiny - puppets have taken over the Delhi's culture scene

The puppets from the ninth Ishara International Puppet festival, will help you have a sneak peek intou00a0 an old art form which defines the cultures and traditions of different regions.

Wayang Goleku00a0Ajen from Indonesia

The Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust, known for its innovative approaches in the field of puppetry, is taking a step forward to save this wonderful art form from extinction. This year, expect some dramatic puppet play with string, shadow and stick puppets with troupes from Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Turkey, Italy, UK, Spain and Holland, apart from India.

Evolving times
The festival was conceived nine years ago by ace Indian puppeteer Dadi Pudumjee, the founder of the Ishara Puppet Theatre, to revive the millennia-old tradition in the country and expose it to movements around the world. Dadi Pudumjee, founder of Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust and the festival, says, "There has been tremendous change from the time it was started, the outlook of people has changed, it has created job opportunities for many and we are portraying many varied styles and techniques in both traditional and contemporary puppetry." But a lot needs to be done feels Pudumjee, "We need many more such platforms for puppeteers and they should also be sponsored to other cities as well."

Strings to shadows
Unlike some puppet shows where the artists emphasise that puppetry is not merely for children and create performances specifically for adults, this time the festival presents performances aimed at the entire family. On how different is this year's festival, Pudumjee reveals, "We have an excellent group from Indonesia and also the Spanish Joan Baxias has a great visual performance piece.

He is also conducting a workshop called Smile-worldmap for young persons in his style of performance art." The festival opens with Ishara's own presentation which is a comic adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, Anokhe Vastra. The play will use masks, puppets, colourful costumes and Brazilian beat music. "The hit play in Hindi, which was first produced in the 1980s, is now being revived with a new prologue after nearly 20 years. It has a colloquial twist to it," says Pudumjee.

Interactive shows
The other performances of the festival include debut of Mau Apa? or What do you Want? by the Indonesian group Papermoon Puppet Theatre which is an interactive play about sharing things in life, an animation done each day in the festival before people enter in the lobby. "The USP of the play is that the audience participates in the play and build a story together with the puppets.

And the message it tries to send to people, is about what they really want in their life, and share it with more people," states Maria Tri Sulistyani (Ria), artistic director of Papermoon Puppet Theatre.u00a0 Origami comes to life in Rain-Bird - A Paper Tale presented by The Train Theater from Israel. So get ready, don't miss on this joy ride with the puppets.

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