Sphoorthi Theatre

  As a Puppeteer and a researcher, I am always fascinated and drawn towards the giant puppet pageants or parades from Western Countries. Most of the Puppet festivals of Western countries surprise the world with a mechanically devised and human-controlled giant puppet that draws all our attention to it. The French street-theatre company Royal de Luxe has presented multi-day in out outdoor performances featuring their giant marionettes for millions of people around the world for more than 20 years. They have cast big puppets—Big Giant, Little Giantess, Xolo the Dog, Giant Grandmother, and Little Boy Giant in Liverpool, England. A marionette known as the Giant Grandmother is paraded through the streets of Liverpool, England, on July 25, 2014. The parade, entitled "Memories of August 1914" by the French theater company Royal de Luxe, featured the Giant Grandmother, a giant little girl, and her dog, named Xolo, and told the story of the city's involvement in World War I. th...

Previously, I had performed puppet shows in spaces, schools, and colleges, as well as libraries, community halls, and cultural centers in colonies. During our time in the middle of the bazaar or market, we did something that was not only novel but also exciting and difficult. Perhaps I ought to say that my childhood dream of working in the retail industry has finally come true. I have always believed that the most effective locations for public awareness programmes are intersections of major roads and busy marketplaces. One type of administrative division is called a mandal. It is a head town to which a number of smaller villages report their allegiance. Even though the day of the market is when all of the villagers in the mandal come together to do their shopping for provisions, groceries, clothing, selling vegetables, and buying things related to agriculture, all three marketplaces were quite crowded. Observing Gonds tribal men and women interact in the marketplace is a joyful, vibr...