One of my favorite holiday pictures - C dressed in her Christmas finery plays with her puppet theater for the first time (thanks Ellen!).
Since that first act, she has expanded her repertoire from Little Red Riding Hood to some of her favorite books and characters. Who knew Jemima Puddle Duck could be set to marionettes? And when Misty of Chincoteague met the Princess Elzebeta it was a touching moment indeed.
We live in the land of marionettes, so I'm looking forward to expanding the cast and we're drawing up more backdrops too (mountain scenary just doesn't give the right salt marsh feel to Misty's performances and we'll definitely need an island scene for any pirate skits!).
7 comments:
Looking forward to seeing a few live performances. And so happy to hear the repertoire is expanding!
Misty! aaaw. That is a great photo. :)
Though I'm sure this is not the case with C, the adult assumption that children go for marionettes is not always borne out. Our eldest grandson (Now 23 and 6 ft 4 in.) was very wary about them when he was five-ish and clung to my wife during a show in the pedestrian parade. With me it was clowns - their excesses terrified me. But I'm sure neither of us were (or are) normal.
Ee - we'll have to video a play sometime soon and post it! You know C ups the ante when she knows she's being filmed ;-).
Liz - Thanks! I was surprised by Misty, and would never have associated the wild horses of Virginia with a European puppet theater, but C had no problem making that leap. Of course, she now wants a pony from Assateague, but I sort of expected that after introducing her to a childhood favorite!
BB - There's a reason Terry Pratchett sets his school of fools next to the assassins guild in Discworld - clowns are strangely scary (and I'd extend that list to include mimes too!).
These marionettes are small and nearly stringless (useful for small kids), and their heads don't bob back and forth like dinosaurs looking for prey, so they wind up looking more cute than scary. Bobbing heads probably trigger something in our primordial brains that say run away!!
That is just so Old World cute!
Misty of Chincoteague! It's all coming back, her mother the phantom with the map of the USA on her withers, Stormy, Misty's foal, and how they had to abandon the island in the floods and leave the dog behind but he hid in the ham-house... trouble was, I never knew how to say 'Chincoteague' and used to pronounce it 'Chincotteegew' in my head...
We loved Misty so much we once vacationed on Chincoteague - it being helpfully less then an hour away from our grandparents...
Twice actually!! And Ee, do you remember meeting Stormy?
Chincoteague - shing-kuh-teeg
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