CHILDREN and adults alike were mesmerised by the poignant show brought to Worcester by Pakistan's foremost puppet company.

Through mime, music, dance, lighting and simple black and white, the puppeteers and their characters captured the imaginations of the Huntingdon Hall, Worcester, audience as they portrayed the story of Simple People.

To the young the show was perhaps purely visual, three enchanting puppets who danced with butterflies and birds, swam in the sea and flew to the stars.

For those somewhat older, the characters conveyed a journey through emotions such as joy and friendship, sadness and anger.

The moral of the tale being fairly simple but true - when friends stick together there is happiness and a lightness of spirit. When they fall out - in this case fighting over something fairly basic such as food - the world becomes a darker place for all.

The tale told by the Rafi Peer Theatre Company was based on children's writer Tedd Arnold's book of the same name.

It has previously been enjoyed in Pakistan, India and Italy.

The puppeteers, all from Pakistan and in their 20s, are normally used to larger stages and found the one at Huntingdon Hall somewhat constricting for their performance, which consisted of much dance and expressive movement with various props.

Despite this, their visual journey was much enjoyed by the small, but very appreciative audience.

Imagination, versatility and clever control of the large-headed puppets outweighed the occasional confusion for the audience as the work was done all to music with no explanation of what was going on.

This was only Rafi Peer's second visit to Britain, but the company are definitely worth watching should they bring their art form to the city once more.

BEVERLY ABBS