MidSummer Dreams

The dose of puppetry,however,has grown larger for the young Mumbai theatre lovers,this summer. Roy,who is the founder of Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust,is in the city to conduct three workshops—Giant Puppets,Rod Puppet and Miniature Theatre—as well as stage her play The Little Blue Planet & Kuch Un-khule Panne. Giving her company,when it comes to bringing puppets to theatre space are Ranga Shankara Theatre with Zapperdockel and the Wock; Meena Naik,director of Bhim and Hanuman,and Aasakta with Junglenama.

Prithvi Theatre is not new to the marriage of puppetry and theatre. In fact,this is something that Sanjna Kapoor has consciously tried to encourage. She is happy to witness “a leap in imagination” as so many theatre artists are now inclined to using various forms of puppetry in their productions.

This trend brought to the fore talents like Padmavati Rao. She made her Summertime debut this year with Zapperdockel and the Wock. This play also happens to be Rao’s first professional theatre appearance despite dabbling in puppetry for more than two decades. She used puppetry for storytelling at private parties and activity centres in Bangalore till Ranga Shankara Theatre and the Goethe-Institut send her scouting for a puppet play to Germany. And she became a part of the Zapperdockel and the Wock cast when it was recreated in India. “The art of puppetry is alive in rural India. However,the urban artists,especially those involved in children theatre,are now using it after a lull. But you can count these artists on your fingertips,” Rao says.

Most artists offer a common explanation for their propensity to puppetry. “One can absolutely do anything with puppets,” says Rao. Sarang Sathe,director of Junglenama,and Naik echo this. “One can convey many things through puppets. I have used puppetry while talking about sensitive subjects like child trafficking as I didn’t want to show violence” says Naik. In her latest play,the task of showing a flying Hanuman is made easy through puppetry.

Unlike Roy,Naik,Rao and Sathe have chosen to use puppetry only in certain parts of Junglenama. “Since the play is done in the nautanki form,we chose shadow puppetry that blends with the mood and live music,” he says. This decision has also helped in the narration. For instance,showing a group of ants plot an attack on an urban elephant has become more visually appealing with shadow puppetry.

However,as Sathe and his cast are not trained in this art,they faced huddles in executing the scenes. “Getting the timings right and lighting were difficult,” he admits. Lack of training in puppetry is the reason why Shaili Sathyu used only live actors for her Suar Chala Space Ko even though it is based on a puppet play,originally written by children for a workshop. “If we can get professional trainers,may be we will introduce puppets in the play later,” she says.