Performance project - Sredni Vashtar

I got a chance to be part of the set design of a play performing for our university project. The play is called Sredni Vashtar which is a short story written by Saki. I chose to make a hen puppet which is really little part but quite important role of the play.

The story concerns an unhealthy ten-year-old boy named Conradin, who lives with his strict cousin and guardian, Mrs. De Ropp. Conradin rebels against her and invents a new religion for himself, which centres on idolising a polecat - ferret he calls Sredni Vashtar; he imagines Sredni Vashtar to be a vengeful, merciless god. Conradin keeps the ferret hidden in a cage in the garden shed, and worships the idol in secret. The story comes to a climax when his cousin sets out to discover his god.

The hen in this story appears two times. The hen was the only friend of the boy because he always stays at home so the hen gets affection in one scene being stroked.

In one corner lived a ragged-plumaged Houdan hen, on which the boy lavished an affection that had scarcely another outlet.

One day Mrs. De Ropp grows concerned over Conradin's visits to the shed. She discovers the Houdan hen, and sells it.

After a while Conradin's absorption in the tool-shed began to attract the notice of his guardian. "It is not good for him to be pottering down there in all weathers," she promptly decided, and at breakfast one morning she announced that the Houdan hen had been sold and taken away overnight.

I had to make the chicken looks innocent and calm looking because Conradin give affection to hen whereas fears about the ferret.

After putting its comb and trimming the feather...

finished!

in the actual play

It was a lot of work putting wools one by one, the result came out really great and soooo fluffy!