Puppets Strut at London Show

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 306, 28 December 1936, Page 10

Puppets Strut at London Show

LUNDUN. —The puppets have been to town, ‘‘some in rags, some iu tags, and some in velvet gowns.” They cam .■ to London to the eleventh exhibition ut the British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild—a display far exceeding .former ones iu the variety and interest of the exhibits, and in the range of perform antes that it included. Here was all the paraphernalia ut puppetry; tiny marionettes, dangling from a bewildering multiplicity of strings, masks, costumes, scene designs, and. most fascinating of all, complete model theatres. Working models, of course, that could stage you anything from 4 ’Tom Rag, the Thames Waterman,” to “Ali Baba,” and take you in a trice from “ Wapping Old Stairs” to “Moonlight in Baghdad’’—with 20 scenes to follow, and demons popping up through “traps” as thick and fast as |hey do a Drury Lane. After the famous Clowes at the end of the last century, the practice of the marionette art almost ceased; but here, with a profusion of exhibits constructed entirely by members of the guild, was the evidence of a great revival. Not only did these modern specimens embody fine craftsmanship, but they attained in some cases artistic excellence. Artistic Enthusiasm The stage design, for example, of Mi Vincent Pearmain for “Twelfth Night,” and that of Mr Cyril Curtis for a ballet, “Etude Romantique,” were unforgetably beautiful; and the paper puppets of Miss Margaret Hoyland that disdained verisimilitude had a significance that was at once original and impressive. But, indeed, on. every (hand one found invention, imagination, and the enthusiasm of new endeavour. So it has always been; for though, in the 200-odd years of their history, the puppets have often waned in public esteem, they have always returned to favour. Of Historical Importance At times, in different countries, they have been of great importance—when the stage has been proscribed, and all men awed into silence. Punch and his like have sometimes dared to squeak and gibber a protest. Now they are again voicing propaganda in the service of the National Savings Committee; their educational value is admitted by the schools; and this exhibition has shown that the public has begun to recognise their art