A PUPPET play about a wooden horse flying over Bahrain, exploring its landmarks and defeating evil creatures will open this November in Bayader Theatre.
Bahraini puppeteer and theatre director Ahmed Jasim has already hand-made many of the puppets that will appear in the show titled Adventures of Shamoos.
“The children’s play follows a brave ‘freysa’ named Shamoos,” Mr Jasim told the GDN. “The story begins when his owner gets into financial difficulties and is forced to abandon his freysa to dive for pearls.”
A freysa (‘little mare’ in Arabic) is a horse or donkey costume worn during traditional celebrations to amuse children, who dance and sing along with the wearer.
Made from wood and decorated with frills, tinsel and shiny fabric, it is similar to the Chinese dragon or lion dance costumes.
“Shamoos roams all over Bahrain in search for his owner but is threatened by a villainous giant named Khalboos who wants to steal him,” said Mr Jasim.
“During his journey, the freysa encounters various dangers but also makes new friends and gets to explore new places in Bahrain such as Muharraq, Sitra, Saar, Jasra, Riffa and A’ali.”
Written by renowned Bahraini playwright Jamal Al Saqer, the Adventures of Shamoos features inventive and modern uses of puppetry, specially engineered to be fully movable despite being lightweight.
An eye-catching figure of a human-sized pearl diver puppet created to be hand-operated by four people sits in Mr Jasim’s tiny workshop in Hidd.
Puppets of different makes, shapes and sizes from past shows decorate the small space. Most recently, he designed and directed a puppet adaptation of the immortal Epic of Gilgamesh.
He had also made a 30-episode television show for Bahrain TV featuring a silly cat, a grandpa and his naughty grandson.
The artist got his start in puppeteering when he was still teaching Arabic at a primary school. “I began in 2006 when I started operating puppets and directing shows at the school.
“When you use out-of-the-box methods of teaching, you engage young students and can actually better get the information across to them.
“The kids loved participating in the shows, presenting them to their fellow students in the morning assembly and joining puppet competitions.”
Although the former educator rarely made his own puppets, he decided to change that by learning from experts in the field.
“By 2017, I decided to attend the gatherings of the world’s top puppeteers and travelled to France. Then, I became the apprentice of professional doll makers in Tunisia,” he explained.
“The grand masters taught me the proper methods of constructing marionettes and complex puppets with moving parts, operated using different mechanisms, including hand-moving, strings, sticks and more.”
He used the skills acquired through his apprenticeship to found his own business Puppet House, as well as teach the craft to other Bahrainis.
“When it comes to making puppets, my wife Um Hamza is my right-hand woman. After I make the structure of the puppet, she sews all the fabric components of the doll,” said Mr Jasim
Every character in the Adventures of Shamoos is made from scratch using foam, wood, cloth and recycled items.
“The show is set during Gergaoun, the mid-Ramadan festival where children go door-to-door collecting sweets, nuts and coins.
“Its main aim is to familiarise children with Bahrain’s history, customs and traditions like the games our grandparents used to play and the different areas of the country.”
Adventures of Shamoos will premiere in the Bayader Theatre in November at a date which will be announced in the near future.
zainab@gdnmedia.com
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