Puppets tell a tale

SD Sharma

Chandigarh, February 16

The Figurentheater Vlinders group from Belgium staged a puppet play, ‘The Fisherman and the Golden Fish’, on the third day of the 8th International Puppet Festival underway at Tagore Theatre here today.

Scripted and directed by Evgeny Ibragimov, internationally renowned puppeteer Ronny Aelbrecht presented the musical non-verbal play in table-top puppets and stop-motion puppets medium before jam-packed Tagore Theatre hall.

The play, which was based on a fairy tale by Alexander Pushkin, illustrated the story of an old and poor fisherman who caught a beautiful golden fish, which promised to fulfil any wish of his in exchange for its freedom. He let the fish go, but when he reached home, his greedy wife send him back to wish for her. The fisherman was caught in a dilemma to ascertain how many silly things he should wish for his wife before she could be content.

The performance was replete with magical table-top and stop-motion puppets, lively music and a powerful message about how to be content and happy with whatever you have in life.