The Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA), in association with the Ministry of National Heritage and Integration, on Monday organised a puppet show to entertain children at the National Art Gallery (NAG).
The puppet show at the PNCA hall has been a regular feature of the council, presented by the National Puppet Theatre (NPT), while the PNCA has announced to hold this puppet show on every Monday at the same venue and time.
The puppet show depicted five folk tales and skits to entertain and educate the children regarding social problems, including health, education, and environment.
The children attended the show along with their parents, who termed it a good source of entertainment for the kids. “The NPT has showcased the skills of its puppeteers featuring vibrant costumed puppets and presented folk tales, skits, regional dances and national songs to provide informative entertainment. It also highlighted various social issues that will surely help children to be a responsible citizen to work for the prosperity of this country,” said the mother of a boy, Oheed Ahmed from G-6/4, who had come to watch the show.
Besides providing entertainment, the puppet shows educate people as children as well as the adults gain knowledge and inspiration from the moral and historical stories acted out by puppets. Many common social problems have been the themes of these shows, which aim at creating awareness, better civic sense and patriotism among the audience. Besides these themes, filial obligations, family ties, healthcare, cleanliness and environmental issues are also presented in an entertaining manner, but with an underlying sobriety and seriousness of the message.
Talking to Pakistan Today, Children Art Workshop (CAW) and NPT Director Zulfiqar Ahmed said that the puppet show was a regular feature, held on every Monday evening. “Over the years, the NPT team has developed entertaining stories with didactic themes.
One of its most popular dramatic programs is the ‘Story of Pakistan’, which has been presented before many heads of states and other dignitaries and has been highly commended,” Zulfiqar observed.
He said that the NPT had recently held shows in various parts of Punjab for 20 days to create awareness about the spread of dengue fever and natural calamities such as floods and earthquake.
“The PNCA also organised shows that entertained audiences in Sargodha, Faisalabad, Jhang and Toba Tek Singh,” Zulfiqar said, adding that children were usually most enthusiastic part of the audience, expressing their appreciation of the puppet shows overwhelmingly.
He said that through colorful puppets, children could learn about the social problems in a unique way and popular folk tales, skits and national songs were a great medium to educate them, while exciting their imagination.
The NPT has also introduced folk dances in their puppet shows and it was a delight to watch those performances, he concluded.
