The mischievous and magical puppet “Pinocchio” took children to an adventurous fairy-tale world of flying sharks, cunning cats and Nemo at the Sharjah International Book Festival (SIBF) 2015 yesterday (Sunday). “Pinocchio Puppets” was full of songs, instrumental music and interactive scenes the children loved and started with a song called “P I N Occhio”, where the actor playing old Gepetto made the audience scream the chorus for him.The audience of enthralled children and some adults are transported to Geppetto’s small house where the blue fairy sings the classic “When You Wish Upon a Star” as Geppetto wishes Pinocchio could become a real boy. Children were all on their feet as the lame fox and the blind cat chased Pinocchio across the hall jumping over seats and stopping and asking about Pinocchio.The hall was covered with giggles as Pinocchio tries to whistle and ends up blowing air and as Pinocchio continues his adventures the stage gets more and more action packed with music, dance, puppet’s antics, a wonderland with candies and ice-creams dangling on the stage, as well as the artificial tide flowing over the stage. But to the audience’s astonishment a shark flew on to the stage and swallowed Pinocchio up.
The stage was instantly transformed into something that looks shark’s belly where Pinocchio meets little Nemo the fish and rescues Geppetto. But not before his nose grew as he lied to the blue fairy and he also found himself in trouble in Wonderland, where boys are turned into donkeys and made to work forever.The “Pinocchio Puppets” was performed by Shakespeare4Kidz (S4K), UK, which is famous for its theatre tours performing Shakespeare for children in the region. Carolyn Chenery, Producer at S4K said: “The show performed here is really different from the shows we perform in the Middle East. We perform Shakespearean plays like “Macbeth”, “Tempest” and others and adapt them for children and families. Recently we have started touring with smaller plays like Pinocchio, which schools in the UAE enjoy. These also include stories like “Little Mermaid”, “Aladdin” and the “Jungle Book”. We will be bringing “Beauty and the Beast” in April next year, which is a new show for us.” S4K will perform Pinocchio Puppets again on November 9.
Meanwhile, children also enjoyed a virtual tour of Sri Lankan forests and the Indian Ocean during a presentation by Gehan de Silva Wijyeratne called “a Land of Ocean Giants”. An investment banker by profession Gehan has shot the pictures of wild animals and giant blue whales over ten years, during his adventure trips into these regions. Gehan's photographic collections include animals such as leopards, bears, wild boars monkeys and birds. He now lives in the UK but travelled a lot as a boy into the forest and on the sea with his uncle. This inspired him to picture these fierce, giant and beautiful animals, and says the images have more impact on children’s mind than plain lectures.