Kay Yasugi from Pupperoos was recently commissioned to make some puppets for an exciting new show at Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview, Sydney. The highschool production, “Coram Boy“, is based on the best-selling novel by Jamila Gavin (the play has been adapted by Helen Edmundson). The story is set in 18th Century England, where the benevolent Thomas Coram has recently opened a Foundling Hospital in London called the “Coram Hospital for Deserted Children”. Unscrupulous men, known as “Coram men”, take advantage of the situation by promising desperate mothers to take their unwanted children to the hospital for a fee. The story follows a range of characters, focusing on two orphans: Toby, saved from an African slave ship; and Aaron, the deserted son of the heir to an estate, as their lives become closely involved with this true and tragic episode of British social history. For this show, Pupperoos made a range of puppets including some illuminated flying birds, white cane ducks on wheels, colourful butterflies, brown paper babies and a fluffy glove puppet mouse. Kay Yasugi also ran a puppet operating workshop with some of the cast members. Directed by John Harrison and Suzanne Millar, “Coram Boy” will be performed at Saint Ignatius’ College, Riverview, in June 2011.
