An inspiring shadow puppet performance

Art Enrichment- Shadow Puppets  

In a relatively short period of time during the Summer term, the Art Enrichment cohort rallied together to create an impressive hands-on shadow puppet performance. The group began by taking inspiration from a Master of shadow puppetry, Fan Zheng’an who has kept the tradition of Mount Tai shadow puppetry alive in Tai’an, China. The art form was created more than 2,000 years ago. A one-man puppeteering band operating anywhere from four to eight puppets when he performs. In addition, we searched for inspiration in Lotte Reiniger’s animated films. Her hypnotic films, painstakingly crafted out of snippets of card and wire and animated by hand. These pioneers provided a starting point for our pupils to understand the layers of depth, power of storytelling using simple card, light, and the use of voice to draw attention to subject of unifying interest.  

Our aim was to create a shadow puppet performance as a group to raise awareness of environmental issues, inspired by Greta Thunberg and the book “Greta and the Giants”. We initially orchestrated workshops to learn the basic skills and craft by creating our own puppetry using our bodies. The staging of photoshoots, using costume and expressive poses, was an energetic way to kick start the project. Moving forwards, we split into small groups, distributing key roles to create a working design studio environment. Pupils played to their strengths and proceeded to create all the elements for the performance, including the planning of the characters, set lists, scripts, and storyboard. Once we had agreed a plan of action, each group were able to design, make the puppets, scenery, and props.   

This wholly collaborative process was an uplifting experience from start to finish as we were able to retell the story of Greta Thunberg - the Swedish teenager who has led a global movement to raise awareness about the world's climate crisis. With the ‘Friday for Future’ movement at the forefront of our minds, we used this opportunity to use our creative skills to champion environmental advocacy and to promote greener practice. A huge thank you to all involved and let’s continue to keep the environment at the forefront of our minds. 

Re-use, re-think, re-imagine.  

George Cole - Art Teacher