A puppet’s life
BRYANSTON – Travel the sea with ventriloquist Ann Parker.
On 30 November a stunning show was presented by puppet master and ventriloquist, Ann Parker at the Bryanston Library.
A group of excited little ones showed up for a sail across the sea. For nearly a full hour, children aged three months to seven years, went to experience a journey across the sea with puppet friends Scooby, Purple Pirate and many more. Parker imparted new experiences of travel and creativity to the eager young minds.
“I started because I wanted to do teaching only part-time and I had young children of my own. I started to train with various people, including training in northern America for a while, then I went on my own,” said Parker.
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She added that it took a lot of practice to get full control over all the different voices that she uses. She also did a ventriloquist course and a self-study course about ventriloquism. “It takes a while to get that voice out, but I always did voices.” She explained that your tongue is a muscle, just like any other muscle in your body, so you need to train it. It took her about three months to get the sound out without moving her lips. Parker added that ventriloquism is a dying art in South Africa.
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The children were delighted throughout the show, and after. Parker owns over 200 puppets and runs a successful one-woman show. Her favourite characters are her bird, Googly and her baby dinosaur that she presents on her business card as Dino.
To learn more about Ann Parker you can visit www.puppetsandmore.co.za.
According to Parker, her biggest reward is to see the children’s reactions when they watch her shows and to see the joy on their faces and the belief in their eyes.
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