TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Locked-down puppeteer brings her characters to life in Madrid flat
Change Size
Actress and puppeteer Yohana Yara, who has used her time in lockdown to build an online fan base for her characters, performs with her colleague Alicia Lorente as Jerome Rader films their puppet show at her home following the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Madrid, Spain, on June 16, 2020. (REUTERS/Susana Vera)
M
adrid-based Colombian actress and puppeteer Yohana Yara has been using her time in lockdown filming puppet shows on her balcony and creating an online fan base for her characters.
Just two months after she moved to the Spanish capital the country went into lockdown, depriving her and thousands of others who work in the arts of a job and shattering her plans for 2020.
Confined to her flat and filled with disappointment and boredom, Yara, 39 decided to create a YouTube channel for her show "Leo the Lion and his Friends". She shot and uploaded videos with children's stories, poems and songs and captured an audience of youngsters. "It helped me, it was therapeutic and stopped me from feeling down and it gave me a creative outlet," Yara said.
Read also: In Syria, puppets show displaced children how to deal with coronavirus
"I think that in times of crisis creativity surges and you start working with what you have at home. As I'm a puppeteer, fortunately I have a lot of puppets I can work with."
She can't wait to start performing in front of children again, and experience the reaction of a live audience.
Spain has suffered one of the world's worst COVID-19 outbreaks but has been gradually reopening since May. The lockdown will end on June 21 but certain restrictions will remain in place, such as social distancing and the use of masks.
