Fox appears several times in Act One, but doesn't speak until Act Two. He is thinking "I'm thirsty, too."... "I'm hungry, too"...
One solution is to have a stick-puppet of Fox for one hand, with a stick "bubble" of what he is thinking in the other hand. The Fox stays the same, the bubble changes each time he appears.
We had the Fox puppet and his thoughts appear up from behind our background, but an actor can sneak across the stage with them, has if hiding behind a hedge, either disguised as Fox or dressed in a solid color, while everyone else in the scene ignores him.
The Mango Tree
Templates
You can use stick-puppets for Lion and his wife Ethel in Act Three.
They can appear from behind a prop, actors can stand with them to the side of the stage, or be the prop.
"Foolish
Rabbit",
said Lion to
himself.
"Good night, Ethel."
"Good night, Henri."
If using two puppets is too complicated for the part where Lion has Rabbit in his mouth, a stick-puppet is the solution.
The performance begins with the Master of Ceremonies, and while he speaks a dozen seagulls fly around from strings on long sticks or poles. If possible the poles and puppeteers can stay hidden, otherwise they dress in white and appear onstage with the birds. Several birds can be attached to one pole, at different levels, some quite low.
The beaks are yellow. The body is white, the wings are generally light grey,
but can also be dark grey. The tails generally have dark grey and white in it.
some are mostly black but
The eyes go in just above the beak where the paper folds.
It is best to put two strings on the fold of the body, one closer to the head,
the other closer to the tail, so the puppeteer can better control the movements
of the birds.
The template fits a normal size paper plate. Different sizes are preferable -
small paper plates - to give the illusion of distance.
