Peking Opera In Shadow

Peking Opera In Shadow comes to the Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre on Saturday 7 November, as part of their regular family Saturday Show programme. It's a double bill for the afternoon: a half-hour shadow-puppet show that brings a Peking Opera story to life through puppetry and singing, followed by a hands-on puppet-making workshop where families can make their own puppet to take home. The show itself is a lively visual one, with characters, drama and music all working together to open up the world of Peking Opera to children and families.

If you're not familiar with the venue, the Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre is tucked away in Glasgow's West End at 8-10 Balcarres Avenue, Kelvindale, G12 0QF. It's a theatre, museum and education unit all in one, with 80 seats, an extensive mask and puppet library and archive, permanent exhibition areas, a mask studio and a marionette carving workshop. They run a regular Saturday Show programme for families from September through to June, and they tour exhibitions like The Magic of Masks & Puppets and Behind The Mask. Their children's programme brings in national and international companies working in glove, rod, marionette, shadow, table-top and black light theatre, drawing on mask, mime, storytelling, music and magic.

This particular session is built around that same mix of watching and doing. The first half is the performance—the shadow-puppet show—and the second is the workshop, so it's a full afternoon's activity rather than just a quick trip to the theatre. The puppet you make in the workshop is yours to keep, which is a nice thing to walk away with after the show. It starts at 2pm on Saturday 7 November, and it's free.