'India is more like Egypt'

Many puppeteers were seen showcasing their talent in the recent ‘Dhaatu International Puppet Festival, an annual puppet theatre that was held in the City.

Artistes from countries like Bulgaria, Egypt, Turkey and the USA, along with many national puppet artistes from around the country, participated in the four-day festival.

In a conversation with ‘Metrolife’, Reda Hassanin, a puppeteer from Egypt, spoke about his puppet group, puppetry scene in Egypt and more. He started a puppetry group 10 years ago and has produced numerous short plays and puppet shows.

“My group is a decade old and we are eight actors in the group. However, it is just three of us who performed at ‘Dhaatu’. We specialise in stories for mini plays and puppet shows. We have performed many shows around the world in countries like Thailand, China, Russia, Jordon, France and this time India,” says Reda.

He adds, “We focus on making traditional plays which have a historic past of the Egyptian culture. The story we performed at ‘Dhaatu’ this year was named ‘Arzak’, a story from Egypt which is about 100 years old. It was a 24-minute play which used the string technique and dance.”

On what is the puppetry scene is like back home, he says, “Puppetry has a very strong base back home. There are many independent and government owned groups there. I have come to India as an independent puppet group, however back home I work as a government owned puppeteer. I work for the Cairo Puppet Theatre.”

He adds, “The Cairo Puppet Theatre is about 65 years old and they have made some great shows till now. Currently, we have more than 10 to 12 puppetry groups in Egypt who work as professionals. I constantly work hard and hope to be great like them.”

The different aspect that they focus on while putting up a show, he says, “First, we look for life, peace, love and aim to spread happiness through our shows. After which comes the new techniques, new types of puppets, creating new relations with people and gaining experience are some of the things we take into consideration while performing a show.”

Reda has been in this profession for 17 years. He says, “Before getting into puppetry professionally I was an amateur back in college. After a few years I joined the Cairo puppeteers. It is difficult in Egypt to take this as a profession as we have a lot of roles to play in terms of learning and grasping the history and the puppetry scene. So I joined the theatre for two years.  I was exposed to the different techniques of puppetry like how to be comfortable on stage, to learn to feel the script and the puppet and understand the audience and other expertise, only after which one is allowed to go on the stage as professionals and present one’s acts.”

Ask him what one of the best things about puppetry is and he says, “I can’t find words to describe it. It helps to find yourself in these mere objects that doesn’t have voice. It gives one the freedom as well as it is a challenge for a person to talk only by using hands and create an understanding with the audience.  One a lighter note, Reda says, being his first time in India, he has enjoyed his stay here.

“ I find India more like Egypt. I love the people, weather and of course the food here. We have tried some of the Indian food. Especially the vegetable dishes, tuna and other meats. They are delicious.