Baba Shakespeare is a new production to be staged by Tower Theatre Company at the Arcola Tent from Tuesday 17th April - Wednesday 2nd May 2012 as part of the RSC Open Stages, which has been described as the UK's biggest amateur theatre project.

The script for Baba Shakespeare has been written by director Emmeline Winterbotham and is derived from the screenplay of the 1965 Merchant Ivory film Shakespeare Wallah, a true story that follows the family of actress Felicity Kendal as they travel around post-colonial India as a troupe of Shakespeare players.



Wednesday 14 December 2011

Monkey wallah research

My next step was to find photos or video footage of monkey wallahs with their performing monkeys.  This was to figure out if there is one particular species that tends to be used.

Here are just a few examples:

Monkey Street Show (video)
Monkey Street Show - India (video)
The Monkey Wallah came to our neighbourhood (photo)
Monkey Wallah (photo)
The Monkey Wallah (photo)

These monkeys look to me like rhesus macaques, as do most of the others I've seen.


A traditional monkey wallah
I guess this may be due to the fact that they are common and not at all shy.  In fact they are known for being rather aggressive.

I've also been watching the original film Shakespeare Wallah and there too the monkeys seem to be closest to rhesus macaques.

I've decided to go with the rhesus macaque for the basis of my marionette design.
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