African stories have Festival's young audience mesmerised

Dorchester Festival 2012 got off to a pulsating African start today with a workshop and two performances of Puppetcraft's mesmerising new show Circle of Tales.

More than 350 children at Manor Park First School were entranced by the story of Mazanendaba and her search for stories among the African animals in the bush.
Mazanendaba and her husband - and all the African animals are wonderful brought to life by puppeteers John and Libby and Ghanian musician Sam.

"The children absolutely loved it - and for those who took part in the workshop there was the added bonus of playing and singing for the second performance, We were thrilled to have such a wonderful company in residence with us for the day" said teacher Cathy Nisbet.

The show, developed over the course of six months last year, included a month-long visit to South Africa by artistic director John Roberts who was told 1000 stories by a Zulu storyteller as part of his research.

The company are going on to perform at Bridport Arts Centre on Saturday June 2nd at 11am.