Shanghai: Highly strung hobbits add flair to fantasy

"With puppets we can create real, fantastic imagery and reach into people's wildest imaginations," he said. "We can recreate characters, which are not human, like dragons, hobbits, elves, giant spiders, orcs, trolls, et cetera, and everybody will believe these characters are real. We create science-fiction live on stage."

At 120 cm tall, Bilbo is the shortest puppet, while Smaug measures some 3 m by 8 m.

"Audiences will see a bit of the puppeteers, who will be dressed in black, especially with the smaller puppets," said Viens. "But when we are manipulating the biggest ones, it is almost impossible to see the artists.

"After a few minutes, the audience will totally forget about the puppeteers."

The show will also touch down in Fuzhou, the provincial capital of Fujian. Future shows are being planned for other mainland cities, possibly using spoken Mandarin.

First developed in Montreal in 1979, the stage production has been performed over 1,400 times, including previous tours in Hong Kong of China, Vietnam, the United States, Bermuda and Costa Rica.

Viens founded Theater Sans Fil in Quebec in 1971. It combines the classical techniques of Bunraku (Japanese puppet theater) with original set design, lighting and music. Viens has since taken the theater's fantasy, poetry, make-believe and magic-focused shows to more than 3 million viewers in over 20 countries and four continents.

July 10, 7 pm

July 11-12; 10 am, 3 pm

Shanghai Art Theater

466 Jiangning Road

江宁路466号

Tel: 6253-7561/6255-1760

Tickets: 80 - 280 yuan