Who knew that taking cardboard, household items, and garden canes, and using them in different combinations to cast shadows would result in a really fun day making and using our own puppets to tell a fantastic sea story?!
In partnership with the Puppet Centre Trust and with guidance from Alison and Sara - expert puppet designers and puppeteers - members of the SAILING TO BRITAIN crew, plus some new hands, learnt how to use the light from an overhead projector to cast the shadows from their own puppets.
We discovered that shadow puppetry would have been a traditional way of story-telling in many of the countries from which Lascars would have come. Puppets made of leather or metal, with intricate patterns punched out, are still used today.
Daniel and Pauline designed and made a fantastic big fish which was poured from a bottle and managed to swallow everything in its path - including a large boat
Justnara's Sea Lady rod puppet - a vision of blue-green gauze, operated by 2 people, managed to save Filiz's drowning man and return him safely to his island!
It sounds bizarre, but really, you had to be there! It was magical!
We plan to use some of these skills in future SAILING TO BRITAIN workshops and performances.
They look wonderful, I look forward to their next appearance!
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