PUPPET SHOW

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 December 1943, Page 2

PUPPET SHOW

STAGED AT EAST SCHOOL. ENTERPRISE BY CHILDREN. From ancient times, puppets have exercised a fascination for young and 'Old; but probably no puppet show was even more heartily enjoyed by the players themselves than the one staged at the Masterton East School Christmas party. In this case, both puppets and puppet theatre had been contrived by the children themselves. The puppets which were of the glove type, were made by the children under the direction of Miss A. Whyte. Suitable pieces for the costumes were found in the school scrapbox; wool retrieved from an adjoining paddock provided Father Christmas with silvery locks and a flowing beard and unravelled yellow wool made the golden tresses of the Christmas fairy and the Queen. The play chosen had an appropriate Christmas atmosphere. It dealt with the machinations of a giant and a witch who planned to. chain Prince Bubble to the Christmas tree his royal parents had chosen for him. But the Christmas fairy and a kindly goblin ordered a Maori chief and a pirate (evidently a converted character) to 'thwart these evil designs and in the final scene the royal family, Father Christmas and the Christmas fairy .gathered round the tree and exchanged appropriate greetings.

In a previous existence the puppet theatre had been the front of a meat safe, but the juvenile carpenters had effected a transformation, and in its deep green paint, with a back scene of snowy fir trees, few would have recognised its lowly origin. At the conclusion of the performance the puppets were paraded round the hall to give the audience an opportunity of examining them more closely.