The manipulation of inanimate life forms to tell stories is an ancient and near universal art form dating back at least to the 5th century B.C., when Herodotus wrote of marionettes used in the Egyptian Festival of Osiris.
Today, puppetry can be found in virtually all cultures. The British brought European puppetry to North America, where ceremonial puppets had already been used for many years by Native American cultures.
Puppetry has been performed regularly on Boston Common since 1883 and probably earlier. It stopped temporarily in 1995.
In 2011 the Friends of the Public Garden restored the puppetry tradition by launching its “Puppets on the Common†Series. It is underwritten by a grant from the M. Holt Massey Charitable Trust and features Rosalita’s Puppets, created by master puppeteer Charlotte Dore.
On Wednesday, August 14, Charlotte and her friends return to the Common for a third season. From 10:30 – 11:30 a.m. at the Parkman Bandstand she will direct a performance of the marionette show “Rosalita and the Giant Bugs,†customized for the Common.
Derived from “Alice in Wonderland,†the story is about a young Boston girl named Rosalita, who finds herself in a pickle when her curiosity leads her to drink from a bottle lying in the Common. As a result, she shrinks to an insect-sized human.
The moral of the story is two-fold – don’t drink trash and do not litter. Protect our parks by disposing of trash properly.
The show is free, open to the public and designed for “children of all ages.†It is underwritten by a grant from the M. Holt Massey Charitable Trust.
Puppets on the Common is one of many programs and activities sponsored by the Friends of the Public Garden, a nonprofit citizen’s advocacy group founded in 1970 to preserve, protect and enhance the Boston Common and Commonwealth Avenue Mall as well as the Public Garden, in collaboration with the Boston Parks and Recreation Department. For more information visit www.friendsofthepublicgarden.org, or call 617-723-8144.
