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Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance which involves the manipulation of puppets. It is very ancient, and is believed to have originated 30,000 years BC. Puppetry takes many forms but they all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects. Puppetry is used in almost all human societies both as an entertainment – in performance – and ceremonially in rituals and celebrations such as carnival.
Most puppetry involves storytelling.
Discussion
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Quotations
A good character is almost always derived from an aspect of the performer's personality.
It was interesting and kind of fun to do--but I wasn't really interested in puppetry then. It was just a means to an end.
Jim Henson p. 8-9
One of the nice things about puppets is that it's your own hand in there. You can make it do anything you want it to.
Jim Henson, p. 51
I had never worked with puppets before so just the concept of talking to this green, grungy-lookin' rag comin' out of a trash can was totally alien to me.
Roscoe Orman, Sesame Street Unpaved by David Borgenicht, Hyperion, 1998, ISBN 0-7868-6460-5, p. 122.
My excitement about making the puppet team was slightly tempered by the fact that everyone who auditioned had made the team.
Phil Vischer, Me, Myself, & Bob Nelson Books, 2006, ISBN 0-7852-2207-3, p. 36.
When I hear the art of puppetry discussed, I often feel frustrated in that it's one of those pure things that somehow becomes much less interesting when it is overdiscussed or analyzed.
Encyclopedia
Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance which involves the manipulation of puppets. It is very ancient, and is believed to have originated 30,000 years BC. Puppetry takes many forms but they all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects. Puppetry is used in almost all human societies both as an entertainment – in performance – and ceremonially in rituals and celebrations such as carnival.
Most puppetry involves storytelling. The impact of puppetry depends on the process of transformation of puppets, which has much in common with magic and with play. Thus puppetry can create complex and magical theatre with relatively small resources.
For information on types of puppets see the puppet entry
Puppeteers on puppetry
"Through puppetry we accept the outrageous, the absurd or even the impossible, and will permit puppets to say and do things no human could. We allow a puppet to talk to us when no one else can get us to speak. We allow a puppet to smile at us even when we have not been introduced. We also allow a puppet to touch us when a person would lose an arm for the same offence" (Anita Sinclair).
"Puppetry is a highly effective and dynamically creative means of exploring the richness of interpersonal communication. By its very nature, puppetry concentrates on the puppet rather than the puppeteer. This provides a safety zone for the puppeteer and allows for exploration of unlimited themes through a safe and non-threatening environment for communication". He adds, "Designing a puppet involves the same processes that a performer uses in building a character. A puppet must always have a valid reason for being. The marvellous thrill of puppetry is that puppets by their very nature do things that are not humanly possible. This allows for the imagination to explore countless different possibilities" (David Logan).
History of puppetry
Puppetry is a very ancient art form, probably first originating about 30,000 years ago . Puppets have been used since the earliest times to animate and communicate the ideas and needs of human societies. Some historians claim that they pre-date actors in theatre. There is evidence that they were used in Egypt as early as 2000 BC when string-operated figures of wood were manipulated to perform the action of kneading bread. Wire controlled, articulated puppets made of clay and ivory have also been found in Egyptian tombs. Hieroglyphs also describe 'walking statues' being used in Ancient Egyptian religious dramas. The oldest written record of puppetry can be found in the written records of Xenophon dating from around 422 B.C.
Asia
Evidence of earliest puppetry comes from the excavations at the Indus Valley Civilization. Archaeologists have unearthed terracotta dolls with detachable heads capable of manipulation by a string dating to 2500 BC. Other excavations include terracotta animals which could be manipulated up and down a stick—-archiving minimum animation in both cases. The epic Mahabharata; Tamil literature from the Sangam Era, and various literary works dating from the late centuries BCE to the early centuries of the Common Era—including Ashokan edicts—describe puppets. Works like the Natya Shastra and the Kamasutra elaborate on puppetry in some detail. The Javanese Wayang theater was influenced by Indian traditions. Europeans developed puppetry as a result of extensive contact with the Eastern World. Some scholars trace the origin of puppets to India 4000 years ago, where the main character in Sanskrit plays was known as sutradhara 'the holder of strings'.
China has had a flourishing history of puppetry for 2000 years, originally in pi-ying xi, the "theatre of the lantern shadows", or, as it is more commonly known today, Chinese shadow theatre. By the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD), puppets played to all social classes including the courts, yet puppeteers (as in Europe) were considered from a lower social strata.
In Taiwan, budaixi puppet shows, somewhat similar to the Japanese Bunraku, occur with puppeteers manipulating in the background or underground. Some very experienced puppeteers can manipulate their puppets to perform various stunts (e.g. somersaults in the air).
Japan has many forms of puppetry. Perhaps the most famous is the bunraku. This developed out of Shinto temple rites, gradually becoming a highly sophisticated form of puppetry. Bunraku owes much to the two great puppeteers, Gidayu Takemoto and Monzaemon Chikamatsu. By 1730 it required three puppeteers to operate each puppet in full view of the audience. Originally, the puppeteers (dressed all in black) would become invisible when standing against a black background, while the torches illuminated only the carved wooden, beautifully painted and costumed puppets.
In Korea, the tradition of puppetry is thought to have come from China. The oldest record about puppetry comes from a letter written in 982 A.D. by Choe Seung-roe to the King. In Korean, the word for puppet is "ggogdu gagsi" Gagsi means a bride or a young woman, the most common model of dolls. A ggogdu gagsi puppet play has eight scenes.
Thailand has Hun Krabok, a rod puppet theatre which is the most popular form of puppetry.
Vietnam developed the art form of mua roi nuoc, a water puppetry unique to that country. The puppets are built out of wood and the shows are performed in a waist high pool. A large rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the puppeteers to control them. The appearance is of various puppets moving over water. The origin of this form dates back seven hundred years when the rice field would flood and the villagers would entertain each other. Eventually, villages would compete against each other with their puppet shows. This led puppet societies to be secretive and exclusive.
India has a great tradition of puppetry. In the great Indian epic Mahabharata there are references to puppets. The Rajasthani Katpuli from India is famous. There are many Indian ventriloquists and puppeteers. Professor Y.K. Padhye was the first Indian ventriloquist, and he introduced this form of puppetry in India in the 1920s. His son, Ramdas Padhye, popularised ventriloquism and puppetry. Satyajit Padhye, son of Ramdas, is a third-generation ventriloquist who continues this form of puppetry.
Indonesia has a strong tradition of puppetry. In Java, wayang kulit, an elaborate form of shadow puppetry is very popular. Javanese rod puppets are also particularly beautiful and have a long history. They are elaborately carved and painted and used to tell fables from Javanese history.
Middle East
Middle Eastern puppetry, like its other theatre forms, should be seen in the context of its Islamic culture. Karagoz (the Turkish Shadow Theatre) has widely influenced puppetry in the region. It is thought to have passed from China by way of India. Later, it was taken by the Mongols from the Chinese and transmitted to the Turkish peoples of Central Asia. Thus the art of Shadow Theater was brought to Anatolia by the Turkish people emigrating from Central Asia. Other scholars claim that shadow theater came to Anatolia in the 16th century from Egypt. The advocates of this view claim that when Yavuz Sultan Selim conquered Egypt in 1517, he saw shadow theatre performed during a party put on in his honour. Yavuz Sultan Selim was so impressed with it that he took the puppeteer back to his palace in Istanbul. There his 21 year old son, later Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, developed an interest in the plays and watched them a great deal. Thus shadow theatre found its way into the Ottoman palaces.
In other areas, the style of shadow puppetry known as khayal al-zill – an intentionally metaphorical term whose meaning is best translated as ‘shadows of the imagination’ or ‘shadow of fancy' - survives. This is a shadow play with live music, "the accompaniment of drums, tambourines and flutes...also..."special effects" – smoke, fire, thunder, rattles, squeaks, thumps, and whatever else might elicit a laugh or a shudder from his audience"
In Iran, puppets are known to have existed much earlier than 1000 CE, but initially only glove and string puppets were popular in Iran. Other genres of puppetry emerged during the Qajar era (18th-19th century BCE) as influences from Turkey spead to the region. Kheimeh Shab-Bazi is a Persian traditional puppet show which is performed in a small chamber by a musical performer and a storyteller called a morshed or naghal. These shows often take place alongside storytelling in traditional tea and coffee-houses (Ghahve-Khave). The dialogue takes place between the morshed and the puppets. Puppetry remains very popular in Iran, the touring opera Rostam and Sohrab puppet opera being a recent example.
Europe
Ancient Greece and Rome
Although there are few remaining examples of puppets from ancient Greece, history reveals through literature that puppetry was important. The Greek word usually translated as "puppets" is neurospasta, which literally means "string-pulling", from nervus, meaning either sinew, tendon, muscle, string, or wire, and span, to pull. Aristotle referenced pulling strings to control heads, hands and eyes, shoulders and legs. Archimedes is known to have worked with marionettes. Plato's work is full of references to puppeteering. The 'Iliad' and the 'Odyssey' were presented using puppetry. The roots of European puppetry probably extend back to the Greek plays with puppets played to the 'common people' in the 5th Century BC. By the third century BC these plays would appear in the Theatre of Dionysus at the Acropolis.
In ancient Greece and ancient Rome clay dolls (and a few of ivory), dated from around 500 BC, were found in children's tombs. These dolls had articulated arms and legs, some of which had an iron rod extending up from the tops of their heads. This rod was used to manipulate the doll from above, exactly as is done today in Sicilian puppetry. A few of these dolls had strings in place of the rods. Some authorities believe these ancient figures were mere toys and not puppets, due to their small size.
Italy - Middle Ages and Renaissance
Italy is considered by many to be the early home of the marionette, thanks to the influence of Roman puppetry. Xenophon and Plutarch refer to them. The Christian church used marionettes to perform morality plays. It is believed that the word marionette actually originates from the little figures of the Virgin Mary, hence the word 'marionette' or 'Mary doll'. Comedy was introduced to the plays as time went by, and ultimately led to an edict banning puppetry from the church. Puppeteers responded by setting up stages outside cathedrals and became ever more ribald and slapstick. Out of this grew the Italian comedy called Commedia dell'arte. Puppets were used at times in this form of theatre. Sometimes Shakespeare's plays were performed using marionettes instead of actors.
In Sicily, the sides of donkey carts are decorated with intricate, painted scenes from the Frankish romantic poems, such as The Song of Roland. These same tales are enacted in traditional puppet theatres featuring hand-made marionettes of wood; this art is called Opira dî pupi (Opera of the puppets) in Sicilian. The opera of the puppets and the Sicilian tradition of cantastorî (sing stories) are rooted in the Provençal troubadour tradition in Sicily during the reign of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, in the first half of the 13th century. A great place to see this marionette art is the puppet theatres of Palermo, Sicily.
Italy - 18th and 19th century
The eighteenth century was a vital period in the development of all Italian theatre, including the marionette theatre. Whereas the rod puppet was mainly of lower-class origin, the marionette theatre was popular in aristocratic circles, a celebration of the Age of Enlightenment. The effects, and the artful and complex construction of the puppets, the puppet theatres, and the puppet narratives, were all enormously popular, particularly in Venice.
In the 19th century, the marionettes of Pietro Radillo became even more complex. Instead of just the rod and two strings, Radillo's marionettes were controlled by as many as eight strings, thus increasing the control over the individual body parts of the marionettes.
Great Britain
The traditional British Punch and Judy puppetry traces its roots to the 16th century to the Italian commedia dell'arte. The figure of Punch derives from the stock character of Pulcinella, which was Anglicized to Punchinello. He is a manifestation of the Lord of Misrule and Trickster figures of deep-rooted mythologies. Punch's wife was originally "Joan". In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the familiar Punch and Judy hand puppet show which existed in Britain was performed in an easily-transportable booth. A resurgence in puppetry was pioneered by The British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild in the early 20th century. Two of the founders, H. W. Whanslaw and Waldo Lanchester, both pushed puppetry to the forefront of British consciousness with publications of books and literature, mainly focusing on the art of the marionette. Lanchester had a touring theatre and a permanent venue in Malvern, Worcestershire, regularly taking part in the Malvern Festival and attracting the attention of George Bernard Shaw. One of Shaw's last plays, Shakes versus Shav, was written for and first performed in 1949 by the company.
Current centres of British Puppetry include The Little Angel Theatre in Islington, London; Norwich Puppet Theatre; The Harlequin Puppet Theatre, Rhos on Sea, Wales; and the Biggar Puppet Theatre, Biggar, Lanarkshire, Scotland. British puppetry now covers a wide range of styles and approaches. Don Austen is one of many British puppeteers who have extended British puppetry, and a number of theatre companies including Horse and Bamboo Theatre, Green Ginger, and Impossible integrate puppetry in their highly visual productions. Political satire was covered through the medium of the puppet in the ground-breaking British television series Spitting Image, from 1984 to 1996. Puppetry has also been influencing mainstream theatre. Several recent productions combine puppetry and live action, including 'Warhorse' National Theatre and 'Madam Butterfly' English National Opera.
Netherlands, Denmark, Romania, Russia and France
Many regional variants of Pulcinella were developed as the character spread across Europe. In the Netherlands it is Jan Klaassen (and Judy is Katrijn); in Denmark Mester Jackel; in Russia Petrushka; in Romania Vasilache; and in France Polichinelle. Only during the French revolution were puppet booths closed. Those puppeteers who dared to take part in political criticism were imprisoned. In Russia, the Central Puppet Theatre in Moscow and its branches in every part of the country enhanced the reputation of the puppeteer and puppetry in general.
Germany and Austria
There is a long tradition of puppetry in Germany and Austria. Much of it derives from the 16th century tradition of the Italian commedia dell'arte. The German version of the British character of 'Punch' is called Kasperle of Kaspar while Judy is called Grete. In the eighteenth century, operas were specifically composed for marionette puppets. Gluck, Haydn, de Falla and Respighi all composed adult operas for marionettes. In 1855, Count Franz Pocci founded the Munich Marionette Theatre. A German dramatist, poet, painter and composer, Pocci wrote a remarkable 40 puppet plays for his theatre. Albrecht Roser has made a considerable impact with his marionettes in Stuttgart. His characters Clown Gustaf and Grandmother are well-known. Grandmother, while outwardly charming, is savagely humorous in her observations about all aspects of society and the absurdities of life. The Salzburg Marionette Theatre was founded in 1913 by Professor Anton Aicher and is world famous. Today in Salzburg in Austria, the Salzburg Marionette Theatre still continues the tradition of presenting full length opera using marionettes in their own purpose built theatre under the direction of Gretl Aicher. It performs mainly operas such as Die Fledermaus and The Magic Flute and a small number of ballets such as The Nutcracker. The Salzburg Marionette Theatre productions are aimed for adults although children are of course welcome. There is also a marionette theatre at Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna.
The Czech Republic
Marionette puppet theatre has had a very long history in entertainment in Prague, and elsewhere in the Czech Republic. It can be traced deep into the early part of the Middle Ages. Marionettes first appeared around the time of the Thirty Years' War. The first noted Czech puppeteer was Jan Jiri Brat, who was born in 1724. He was the son of a local carpenter and created his own puppet theatre. Matej Kopecky was the most famous 19th century Czech puppeteer, and was responsible for communicating the ideas of national awareness. In 1920 and 1926 respectively, Josef Skupa created his most famous puppets: comical father Spejbl and his rascal son Hurvínek. In 1930, he set up the first modern professional puppet theatre. An important puppet organisation is the National Marionette Theatre in Prague. Its repertoire mainly features a marionette production of Mozart's famous Don Giovanni. The production has period costumes and a beautifully designed eighteenth century setting. There are numerous other companies, including Buchty a Loutky ("Cakes and Puppets"), founded by Marek Becka. Puppets have been used extensively in animated films since 1946. Jirí Trnka was an acknowledged leader in this area. Miroslav Trejtnar is an acknowledged master puppeteer and teacher of traditional Czech marionette-making skills.
19th century
Throughout this period, puppetry developed separately from the emerging mainstream of actor theatres, and the 'ragged' puppeteers performed outside of theatre buildings at fairs, markets etc - continuing to be classified along with bandits and gypsies. In the 19th century, puppetry faced competition from other forms of theatre such as vaudeville and music hall, but it adapted to these challenges, for example: by developing stage acts and participating in the new forms of popular theatre, or reinventing itself in other ways and finding audiences at the newly fashionable seaside resorts.
Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa may have inherited some of the puppet traditions of Ancient Egypt. Certainly, secret societies in many African ethnic groups still use puppets (and masks) in ritual dramas as well as in their healing and hunting ceremonies. Today, puppetry continues as a popular form, often within a ceremonial context, and as part of a wide-range of folk forms including dance, storytelling, and masked performance.
Throughout rural Africa, puppetry still performs the function of transmitting cultural values and ideas that in large African cities is increasingly undertaken by formal education, books, cinema, and television.
Americas
The Teotihuacan culture (Central Mexico) of 600 AD made figurines with moveable arms and legs as part of their funerary rites. Native North Americans also used ceremonial puppets.
In 1519, two puppeteers accompanied Hernando Cortez on his first journey to Mexico. Europeans brought their own puppet traditions with them, but gradually distinctive styles, forms and puppet characters developed in America.
Some advances in 20th century puppetry have originated in the USA. Marionette puppetry was combined with television as early as the 1940s, with Howdy Doody of the United States being a notable marionette in this field. Bil Baird did wonderful work revitalising marionette theatre and puppetry in the United States. He and his wife, Cora Eisenberg had their own marionette theatre in New York. Edgar Bergen also made a major contribution. In the 1960s Peter Schumann's Bread and Puppet Theater developed the political and artistic possibilities of puppet theatre in a distinctive, powerful and immediately recognizable way. At roughly the same time, Jim Henson was creating a type of soft, foam-rubber and cloth puppet which became known collectively as Muppets. Initially, through the children's television show Sesame Street, and later in The Muppet Show and on film, these inspired many imitators and are today are recognised almost everywhere. Wayland Flowers also made a major contribution to adult puppetry with his satirical puppet, Madame.
Puppets also have been used in the Star Wars films. The character of Yoda is most effective. His voice and manipulation is provided by master puppeteer Frank Oz.
Oceania
The aboriginal peoples of Australia have a long tradition of oral storytelling which goes back many thousands of years. They used masks and other objects to convey deep and meaningful themes about morality and nature. There are links between as an early form of ritualistic human carnival puppetry. Masks were carved from wood and heavily decorated with paint and feathers. In many of the Pacific countries, there has been a heavy emphasis on ritual.
With the arrival of European settlers, a different sort of puppetry took shape. In Australia in the 1960s, Peter Scriven founded the Marionette Theatre Company of Australia and had beautiful marionette productions such as The Tintookies, Little Fella Bindi. The Explorers and The Water Babies. Bilbar Puppet Theatre, established by Barbara Turnbull and her husband Bill Turnbull (puppeteer) toured Australia extensively under the auspices of the Queensland Arts Council in 1970s and 1980s. Their puppets are now held in the Moncrieff Library of the Performing Arts, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Brisbane.
There are a great many thriving puppet companies in Australia. Courses exist at tertiary level at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Australian puppeteer Norman Hetherington was famous for his marionette, Mr. Squiggle who featured on an Australian Broadcasting Commission television program for many years from 1 July 1959. The last episode was on 9 July 1999. In every episode he would create several pictures from "squiggles" sent in by children from around the country. Richard Bradshaw OAM is another famous Australian puppeteer. He is currently President of UNIMA Australia, former artistic director of the Marionette Theatre Company of Australia and is renowned for his shadow puppetry and writing in the field. Rod Hull also made a contribution with his puppet Emu. In the 1960s, Hull presented a children's breakfast television programme in Australia. Snuff Puppets is one of Australia's modern puppet theatre troupes. Based in Melbourne, their work is full of wild black humour, political and sexual satire and a hand made visually aesthetic. Snuff Puppets has performed in over 15 countries, including tours to major festivals in Asia, South America and Europe. There is an annual winter festival of puppets at the City of Melbourne's ArtPlay and at Federation Square in Melbourne.
In New Zealand, a similar history has taken place.
Contemporary puppetry
From early in the 19th century, puppetry began to inspire artists from the 'high-art' traditions. In 1810, Heinrich von Kleist wrote an essay 'On the Marionette Theatre', admiring the "lack of self-consciousness" of the puppet.
Puppetry developed throughout the twentieth century in a variety of ways. Supported by the parallel development of cinema, television and other filmed media it now reaches a larger audience than ever. Another development, starting at the beginning of the century, was the belief that puppet theatre, despite its popular and folk roots, could speak to adult audiences with an adult, and experimental voice, and reinvigorate the high art tradition of actors' theatre.
Sergei Obraztsov explored the concept of kukolnost ('puppetness'), despite Stalin's insistence on realism.
Other pioneers, including Edward Gordon Craig and Erwin Piscator were influenced by puppetry in their crusade to regalvanise the mainstream. Maeterlinck, Shaw, Lorca and others wrote puppet plays, and artists such as Picasso, Jarry, and Léger began to work in theatre.
Throughout the world, innovatory puppeteers such as Tony Sarg, Waldo Lanchester, John Wright, Bil Baird, Joan Baixas, Sergei Obratsov, Philipe Genty, Peter Schumann, Dattatreya aralikatte, Jim Henson, Kevin Augustine, and Dadi Pudumjee, Julie Taymor have continued to develop the forms and content of puppetry.
Puppetry is now probably more familiar through television than live performance, but this still flourishes throughout the world. In the world of theatre, puppetry continues to be influential, and despite its 'outsider' status acts as an invigorating and rejuvenating influence on its mainstream relative.
UNIMA - International Puppetry Association
UNIMA, the International Puppetry Association, was founded in Prague in the 1920s. In 1981, Jacques Felix moved UNIMA's headquarters to Charleville-Mézières, France. There are national branches throughout the world; examples being POA (Puppeteers of America), PUK (Puppetry UK) and UNIMA Australia which represent puppetry as an art form in their countries. The most recent UNIMA World Congress and International Puppetry Festival was held in Perth, Australia from 2-12 April, 2008 <3. The Center for Puppetry Arts is the headquarters of UNIMA-USA, the American branch of UNIMA founded by Jim Henson in 1966.
See also
External links
- - International organization of puppeteers and puppet enthusiasts
- - Australian branch of the International organisation of puppeteers
- - Puppetry Museum and Theater in Atlanta, GA, US.
- - Contains links and information about all types of puppets and puppetry.
- - Popular weblog about puppetry and its role in film, video and digital media.
- - Articles and training videos related to puppet manipulation and puppeteer education.
Books and Articles
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