Our March Get-together entertainment was
courtesy of The Wychwood Puppets, ably
demonstrated by Steve and Christine Clarke.
There has been a history of puppetry in this
country for 350 years and we were shown a
variety of examples, ranging from shadow puppets
operated by rods, through glove puppets to
marionettes.
Among the shadow puppets were Javanese figures
and Indian warriors. They were illuminated from
behind and their shadows fell on to a fine
screen.
The glove puppets were the famous Punch and
Judy, although their baby was a rod puppet. Each
figure was operated by one hand and this became
more difficult when two puppets were in action.
The marionettes came to life with music. First
of all was the soldier jigging and gesticulating
to The Sentry Song from “Iolanthe” by Gilbert
and Sullivan. Operating a marionette needs two
hands and several fingers to pull the strings
attached to all parts of the puppet’s body.
Then we had a demonstration of two oriental
marionettes, followed by a macabre dance from a
skeleton. Finally there was an amusing strong
man attempting to lift a heavy weight.
Thank you, Pam Gavan, for arranging another
interesting talk.
