Master puppeteer and stage veteran Peter Court says he was flattered when he was approached to launch Durban's first puppet theatre festival.The Nandogam EcoVillage iKHO! Festival is three-day programme of ecologically-themed puppet theatre productions. It is the idea of puppeteers and performing artists Laghu Hari Das and Gisele Turner, who have been planning the festival since early last year."Gisele Turner contacted me and asked if I would perform for the opening night," says Court. "I was flattered and said 'yes!' then I thought, 'What the hell am I going to perform?' So I've created a brand new show for the festival and will tour with it to schools in KwaZulu-Natal for the rest of the year."Now in his fifties, Court has been working with puppets since he was a child and his father bought him a set of puppets and a puppet theatre when he was three years old and the family were living in the "almost-bush" in Nigeria. "They were my friends. They were the first actors I could direct. They could be anyone I wanted them to be and they didn't answer back."Court not only voices and directs but also creates his own puppets."I love the process of crafting a puppet from the design, based on what the puppet has to do on stage, through fabrication, then painting, to its realization as a character through its movements."I have some puppets that are over 70 years old that were bequeathed to me. The oldest puppets I have that I made are from Creative Madness's production of Beauty and the Beast."Memories? Court says he has too many to count. "Fantastic times at the Kwasuka Theatre dressed in fur and dying of heat because there was no air-con; cursing every minute of performing in that heat but loving the audience reaction."People came to see the show three times in one week. First with their grandchild, then with their child, and the third time with friends from the old people's home. It really taught me that a good story, told well, is good theatre, no matter who your target market is."Drip Drop Drip is the title of his opening night show at the upcoming festival, a modern fable about a small, idyllic, rural village and the price they and their environment pay for being sucked into the bottled water industry.The future of puppetry in the digital age is a secure one, says the actor."Puppeteers are required on film and advertisement shoots all the time. Anyone can create a puppet on their home PC but you have to give it 'life'. It has to 'breathe', to have 'thoughts and actions', and for that you need a puppeteer. In Drip Drop Drip I use a data projector to show the shadow puppets I have videoed because I can only operate one puppet at a time and so digitization is working to my advantage."On at Seabrooke's Theatre from February 26 to 28. Tickets are R35 each, available at the door. Contact Laghu Hari Das on 079-633-3892 for programme information and bookings. A portion of the proceeds will go towards rhino preservation efforts...