'The Odyssey' in Singapore

I have just returned from an inspiring two-weeks in Singapore, during which I worked on a production of Homer's "The Odyssey", which involved the students of Tanglin Trust High School drama department. Using acting, dance, music, puppetry and shadow theatre, the students pulled out all stops to pull together a beautiful modern production of this ancient Greek tale.

During my time at the school, I began by familiarising the students with paper puppetry and teaching breathing techniques and movement. This gave them a good grounding to start working with the puppets which we designed and they built during the very short time available. As we planned to use shadow puppetry in the show and were not allowed to use my usual halogen lights, due to the heat and danger to the children, we experimented with LED technology and found particularly great LED torches. I used FENIX FD45 rotary focusing lights of 900 Lumens, which has five brightness settings and was brilliant to replace my hot electrical halogen lighting for shadow puppetry. It can also be changed from spotlight to floodlight (ideal for shadow puppetry.

In December I was fortunate enough to have participate once again, for the third year running, in the Youth and Children's Festival in Hamedan, Iran. This was followed by running a few spectacular workshops at the University of Tehran.

The next tours planned are at an Arts Festival in Shanghai, China in March, followed by a South African tour in May, after which more animation will begin in our brand new studios in Melbourne, Australia. So watch this space!

PS. We are currently taking bookings for our International Schools' Tours in 2019. If you are interested to find out more, click here!