The Puppet Theatre [Archives:2001/11/Culture]

Thanks to the support of both Yemenia and the French Cultural Center of Sana’a, a group of French puppeteers visited Yemen in collaboration with the NGO Dia during the month of February 2001. Since puppet theatre has the advantage of being easily comprehended by young audiences, the performance of a mobile puppet show within rural areas was organized.
Three young Yemeni artists and a student of the French department from the university of Taiz were chosen and trained.
The training consisted of working on a project entirely realized in Yemen with the hope of organizing similar activities in the country in the future.
Through the coordination of an awareness program, the group of puppeteers used simple teaching skills and easily transportable material. A story was collectively written for the show entitled ‘The song of water’. The story talks about two children in search of a
magic waterfall. The group of young Yemeni artists was inspired by the lack of sufficient water in the country, which they used as the main subject of the story for the puppet show.

The show was performed in the cities of Taiz and Sana’a and in various villages in the governerates of Taiz and Lahej. Several performances also took place in the Somali refugee camp in collaboration with the NGO Triangle GH.
The positive response from the young children has encouraged the Yemeni artists to follow-up with a similar awareness project in the near future.

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