Dadi Pudumjee
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Dadi Pudumjee is a leading puppetteer in India and the founder of Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust. He was awarded the Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1992.
He is the Vice President of UNIMA (Union Internationals de la Marlonette), International Puppetry organization, Executive Committee and also serves as a member of the General Council of the Sangeet Natak Akademi.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Education
His university education was in creative drama at the Darpana Academy in Ahmedabad, after which he went to the Marionette Theatre Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, and studied puppetry under Michael Meschke.
[edit] Career
He was later a guest director at the Puppen Theatre, Berlin, GDR.
In 1980, he founded the Sutradhar Puppet Theatre at the Shri Ram Centre for Art and Culture in New Delhi and was its artistic director until 1986, at which time he set up his own puppet company, Ishara Puppet Threatre Trust.
Pudumjee's puppetry is not restricted to the more common versions of string- and hand-puppets. He has also used semi-sculptural puppets that are attached to actors' bodies and carried across stage.
Ishara Puppet Theatre Trust includes a variety of other media and performers: dancers, actors, objects. Many of his performances are designed to appeal to children, but he has also, especially in his work that addresses themes such as HIV/AIDS and drug abuse, taken up more adult themes. He ranges freely across multiple cultural traditions. Some of his performances are adaptations of material familiar in traditional Indian theatre, like the story of Ram and Sita or his 2004 work based on the adventures of Vikram and Betaal (Vampire Tales), titled Transpositions. [1] He has traveled widely to perform as well as teach in many countries including the U.K., Russia, Japan, Australia, Indonesia, Brazil, the U.S. and Sweden. Pudumjee and his troupe performed a version of the Vikram-Betaal myth at New York's La MaMa Theater. [2]
Over the year he has worked extensively with children, especially street children, including his 2007 project with street children of Salaam Baalak Trust, for UNESCO Paris [3] and the EU on in projects on non-formal education that address HIV and drug abuse. [4]
[edit] Awards
- Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 1992
- Sanskriti Pratishan Award
- Delhi Natya Sangh Award
