Fairy tale and War: Pantomime of Puppets “Little Red Riding Hood” 10/06/2009

On the night of June 10, the pantomime of puppets "Little Red Riding Hood" co-produced by The Catholic University of America and University of Tehran, Iran was put on stage in the Lianhua Road Theatre of STA.
The fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood is a well-known story among children around the world, but this piece will bring us a new vision of the traditional story.

It’s a pantomime with puppets and music. The piece intends to give voice to the experience of children and women living in "zones of conflict". To us the production is a way to encourage people to deal with fears in a world full of natural disasters, wars and conflicts.

Different from the fairy tale, this pantomime has a miserable ending. The director and playwright Jeffery Sichel explained that the production aimed to reflect the persecution people, especially women and children experienced in wars and conflicts. The wolf represents wars and conflicts while granny and little red riding hood represent women and children. He hoped that every family would teach their children how to face and avoid negative things around them. The story of a wolf and a little red riding hood is an eternal theme not only in the artistic works but also in the society. The 45-minute performance helped the audience believe that we could make the world better.

Among the audience were many children. Although they were too young to understand everything, the only thing we could do was to inform them of the danger and the importance of braveness.

The performance