Growing up in Bermuda, theatre buff Alexander Winfield really felt the lack of theatrical offerings for children on the island.

“There was the Christmas pantomime, and not much more,” he said.

Now a professional puppeteer working in London with his own puppeteering company Musicanima Theatre, he hopes to change that for local children.

He and his partner, Latana Phoung, an opera singer, this month gave performances in six Government schools in Bermuda with the aim of introducing children to the classical arts and encouraging them to follow their dreams. The pair performed Mr Winfield’s play ‘The Other Side’ which combines puppetry and opera in an unusual way.

“It is not unusual for puppetry to ornament an opera,” said Ms Phoung, “but to use puppetry and opera in a play, I haven’t seen that before.”

‘The Other Side’ is about a little girl called Polly who wants to become an opera singer, but is held back due to a lack of confidence. She is taken to the “other side” where she must use her singing voice to battle the Dreameater and other strange creatures. There is a strong influence of fantasy writers such as J R R Tolkien in the script.

Mr Winfield received a grant from the Bermuda Arts Council and sponsorship from British Airways to bring the performance to Bermuda.

“It took us two years to organise this,” said Ms Phoung. “We had to apply and then there was a change of Government, so it took us awhile to get everything off the ground.”

The performances also included an hour-long puppet-making workshop and a question-and-answer session. Mr Winfield is known for his workshops where he teaches people how to make puppets out of household items like newspapers and sticks.

“The children have been asking lots of good questions,” said Ms Phoung. “Sometimes they ask things that seem obvious like, ‘did you practice a lot?’. But if you don’t tell them about the need for practice, how will they know?”

Musicanima was a resident company at the Greenwich Theatre and performed at The Little Angel Theatre, England’s premier puppet theatre in London. They have also performed in Bermuda at Chewstick and Mr Winfield has given workshops in puppet building at the Bermuda Society of Arts (BSOA).

Mr Winfield has been working with puppets for ten years. He said: “I wanted to bring my work back home to Bermuda so that young Bermudians can be exposed to opera in a fun environment. The puppets are a great hit with the children and we’re looking forward to the performances here on the island. I would like to thank the Arts Council and British Airways for their support, which has made the performances in Bermuda possible.”

Mr Winfield said that the performances had been such a success he is hoping to get another grant and come back again. He hoped that the next time even more schoolchildren would have a chance to see Musicanima’s work.

“We had this idea because opera is not really introduced to kids,” said Ms Phoung. “It is quite expensive, as well.”

Mr Winfield attended Saltus Grammar School and later studied film and television production at Ryerson University in Toronto. While there he also worked in film and had the opportunity to train with The Puppet Mongers and Quebecois artist Mathieu René, although he is mainly self-taught in the use of puppetry.

Ms Phoung began working for Maitrise de Radio France, a professional children’s choir, when she was eight years old. She is a trained mezzo soprano and studied at the Guildhall in London, England. Following her studies she worked at the National Opera Studio in the United Kingdom.

For more information about Musicanima see their blog musicanimatheatre.blogspot.com.