Puppetry

   Puppetry, while commonly used as entertainment for children of the United States, has roots from sophisticated cultures around the globe. Ancient cultures would use puppets to tell stories, teach lessons, and in some tribes they were used in rituals of magic and healing. Each society that incorporates a form of puppetry falls into one of four categories: hand, string, rod, or shadow puppets. A puppet can require more than one operator depending on its size and type. With hand puppets for example, a puppeteer can handle two at a time, whereas with a string puppet, a marionette (see picture below), might need two hands to produce a certain body movement. Puppetry is a true form of theatre, but among its elements, the visual effect takes precedence over the oral. Imbuing an inanimate object with life is what has kept its entertainment alive all these generations, and gives us, the audience, that puppetry is magical.

 

   Watching puppeteers perform is a sight to behold, depending on the style and tradition behind the story however will greatly alter what you gain from the experience. For a hand puppet performance, generally used to entertain children, more than likely we would see a story with comical relief and a possible moral lesson to be learned. But for a string or marionette puppet we can see much more detail and require more skill to operate, giving the audience a better description of the character, and thus allowing more elements to portray in the story. The stage will be miniature in comparison to standard theaters, an example being a booth for a hand puppeteer to hide himself behind as
he controls his hand puppets, see picture (right).

Did you know?

• The name Marionette , meaning "Little Mary" may have come from the figure of The Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus, in the telling of the Nativity story. It may also have come from the word marotte meaning fool's scepter.                                           

• In The Middle Ages the Christian Church used puppets to spread church doctrine, with the monks and priests as the puppeteers. The Nativity, the story of the birth of Jesus, was a favorite play.

Below is a video of a more modern use of hand puppets, the characters representing those from the Harry Potter series.

Sources

Copp, Linda, and Carol Carbonell. "History of Puppetry." Puppetry (2004): n. pag. 

     Web. 3 Oct 2010. <http://sunniebunniezz.com/puppetry/puphisto.htm>.

Barone, Nick. "Puppetry Traditions Around the World." Puppetry Home Page n. pag. 

     Web. 3 Oct 2010. <http://www.sagecraft.com/puppetry/traditions/index.html>.

Felner, Mira, and Claudia Orenstein. The World of Theatre - Traditional and Innovation. 

     first. Boston MA: Pearson Education, Inc., 2006. 458. Print.