PUPPET SHOW

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 258, 28 July 1941, Page 4

PUPPET SHOW

Free Kindergarten Funds

Benefit

An entertainment for children ot unusual interest was held on Saturday in the central hall, Queen Margaret College, when a puppet show and a verse recital were given by Mrs. Heyman and Mrs. W. J. Mountjoy respectively to benefit the Wellington Free Kindergarten. Miss Wilson, principal of Queen Margaret College welcomed the gathering of parents and gave a : particularly warm greeting to the large number of boys and girls who arrived Tor the performance. Mrs. Mountjoy’s first verse-selection (A. A. Milne’s “Old Sailor”) was an immediate favourite. This was followed by a charmingly spoken bracket of short poems which included an old ‘Scottish verse and a whimsical fragment about a cow by a poet of ancient China.

The highlight of the afternoon was the puppet show designed and dexterously manipulated by Mrs. Heyman. .The story of “Pinocchio” was re-enact-ed but the real hero of the hour was the loquacious “Punch” of Punch and Judy fame who helped to give the plbb a novel twist. The puppets were mitten ones and a life-like illusion was created by the absence of strings.

“Punch” held the audience enthralled while he executed swift changes of costume and held wily discourse with a tree, a witch and a wizard, a crocodile, a sergeant-major, and the inebriated sailor of sea-shanty fame. The novel feature of the performance was that the audience was able to take an active part in the dialogue. ‘ Mrs. Heyman permitted Punch to make some informal introductions back-stage after the performance, and Miss England, of the Wellington Free Kindergarten Association, tendered thanks to Mrs. Mountjoy and Mrs. Heyman for entertaining the children, and Miss Wilson for the use of the hall.