Testimonials

"You have represented the community with such beauty. I adore your work as a puppeteer and really commend you on your work overseas." Daniel Oldaker (2006)'The Bellboy'

"I am very much proud of you by your versatility as a musician and shadow artist. How could you cope with both arts at a time? Great! Hats off to you!" Mrs Jayam Jammu (2006) 'Shadowplay artiste of India'

"We are amazed at your work." Mohammad Attebai (Dramatic Arts Centre of Tehran) 2006.

"Sean Kenan is a present day exponent of shadowgraphy in Australia." Richard Bradshaw (2005).

"Your shadow puppetry is simply magic, it blew me away". Michaela Olijnyk (2003).

"There are very few hand-shadow acts world wide these days, and it was great to see such a unique vaudeville skill being revived." Mike Finch Artistic Director Circus OZ (2002).

".....a master of the vaudeville/music hall style " I have no hesitation in commending his work.' Phil Spring Director National Folk Festival ACT (2002).

"his shadow puppet vignette was most magical.........his work in this little known or developed area of puppetry is most impressive". Lorrie Gardner (Gardner Puppet Theatre Director 2000).

Hand Shadow Entertainment

In these times of multi-media art forms it is somehow reassuring to see someone helping to keep alive...and develop...an art form which is very likely one of the earliest, requiring little more than a light source and a surface on which to display the shadows.

As a touring shadow puppeteer I am often asked if I make shadows using my hands and find that people are often disappointed when I say no! Most adults and children have tried to make basic hand figures, a dog, a bird etc. , and are able to recognise the skill needed to go further and make a performance from it.

It looks easy but it isn't. In fact the people who master hand shadows are surprisingly few in number.
There is Prasannah Rao, of Mumbai and Hamburg, now in his eighties for whom it has been a lifetime's work.
I saw him in Spain and Germany in 2000, and later that year he was featured at the Henson International Festival of Puppetry in New York. There is also the hand-shadow theatre 'Budrugana' of Georgia (in Europe) whose ensemble work with hand shadows is quite stunning. (I saw them about ten years ago in the USA).
But these are isolated examples of the art-form.
It is good that Sean is working to keep the technique alive....'
Richard Bradshaw O.A.M. (2002)