Meet my new friend – The Dancing Bear. He breaks into funny histrionics, smiles and cries and walks around looking to strike new bonds. This endearing character will meet Vizagites soon at the Vizag Junior Literary Fest on November 17. He is a part of a unique play called ‘The Dancing Bear - Born Free’ by The Puppetarians, a group from Mumbai. What makes him really different is the fact that he is a huge walk-around puppet.
The play is a heart-warming tale of a dancing bear whose life takes a turn upon meeting a magical being. A tapestry of real and magical, it also features a hybrid puppet, with generous sprinkles of shadow puppetry, object performance and original songs - all rolled into one. “The Dancing Bear is a touching tale of kindness, compassion, friendship and finding your inner strength,” says Sangya Ojha, who co-founded The Puppetarians along with Hashim Mohammed. The hour-long play with one actor and two puppeteers is the latest production of the group which is designed and directed by Hashim. It will be debuting at the fest. “This is the first time we have done an amalgamation of different styles of puppetry and performances into a single play,” says Hashim. Incidentally, the story came to him while he was researching about dancing bears in India in 2013. “We lived with this story for many years, sort of incubating it. Finally once we started the production, it rolled on pretty fast and within six months the play was ready,” he adds. Speaking about the various styles of puppetry used in their latest play, Sangya says: “It was shadow puppetry’s mysterious nature, object puppetry’s simplicity and yet it’s relatability and the delightful muppet style puppets that made us fall in love with the entire concept and the characters of the play. It was but natural that we use all these styles of puppetry, as well as a human actor in our newest play. And it all fit so well within the narrative.”
- The Puppetarians have over 100 shows of their various productions on varied platforms, collaborating with different firms in the entertainment and education industry.
According to her, these are exciting times for puppetry in India. “Storytellers are using more and more puppets now, which makes me very happy. It’s now almost imperative for teachers to use puppetry in classrooms. But the focus should be on learning puppetry, understanding its nuances and layers, experimenting with styles and upgrading ones puppetry skills,” says Sangya. “There are certain messages we wish to convey through our puppet works; the idea of being compassionate, kind and true. This theme runs in The Dancing Bear too. We strive to create characters that engage children and adults alike, as we believe that puppetry is not only for the young but for the young at heart as well. And its impact could be life changing,” adds Hashim.
At the VJLF venue at Hawa Mahal, The Puppetarians will be conducting puppet making workshops for the age groups four to seven years and eight to 12 years on November 16.
