With nothing more than an open hand and a mouth harmonica, puppeteer Shane Connolly captivates the small but perfectly formed gathering at the Scottish Mask and Puppet Centre in Glasgow with a delightful “preamble” in which a confident right hand entices a shy left to wave to the audience and engage them in a clap-a-long before taking a well deserved bow in the spotlight.

An endearing simplicity which threads its way through the main event, Galoshins, Sokobauno Puppet Theatre’s take on an old Scottish folk drama, learned orally and performed by children on Halloween and Hogmanay in return for food, which originated as a two-hander with singer-songwriter Alasdair Roberts following a residency at the Scottish Schools Archive.

The “miracle” we are about to witness, says Connolly, is a violent tale of life and death, wrapped up in a celebration of Mother Nature and the passing of the seasons, which like the stroke of midnight on New Year’s morning marks an out with the old, in with the new beginning.

With “old” represented by a stout and bold Admiral who after being challenged to a duel by a plucky commoner Galoshins retains his crown and renders his opponent “rather poorly” aka deid. Step forward “new” in the pot-bellied shape of Doctor Brown, a fine fixer-upper fond of a fish supper, who for said meal and ten pounds agrees to resurrect the dead with a secret potion from his magic bag.

Storytelling at its finest and simplest, utilising puppets, percussion, rhyming couplets, audience participation and silence to hook the audience, draw them in and take them on a journey in which fighting is trumped by friendship.

Two standouts being a swashbuckling stramash between the Admiral and Galoshins in which the clashing of their swords creates a rhythmic soundtrack to their fight-to-the-death duel; and a wee white butterfly, representing the soul of Galoshins, which after emerging from his gaping mouth traverses a river to the afterlife by skipping on a series of stones (childrens’ heads) before resting in the eye of an old horse’s skull.

Peter Callaghan
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