Children pull the strings at historic puppet exhibition

CHILDREN got a chance to pull some strings yesterday as an exhibition of puppets through the ages and from different cultures continues until tomorrow at the Cork Public Museum at Fitzgerald Park.

As part of the exhibition, schoolchildren are being treated to workshops in puppet making. Yesterday, pupils from Scoil Eanna in Montenotte sat around tables in the museum making stick puppets with strings, using bamboo, spray painted polystyrene and stick on mouths, eyes and corks for the noses. For many of the children, it was their first time creating their own puppets although Ayrton O’Donovan is an old hand at this craft. “I love making puppets. I make them at home with my sister and I make them for my niece, Saoirse, who’s two-years-old.”

Included in the Cork Public Museum are papier mache Rostov State puppets from Russia, commedia dell’arte puppets, multi-cultural puppets in every style from Greece, Bali, Java and India. There is even the infamous baby from the film, Trainspotting, suspended from the ceiling of the museum.