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Hand puppet

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t creating voices and movements and in many cases staging a strictly private performance.

Rod puppets

A rod puppet with typical rods to control the arms.

A rod puppet is made out of wood wire and string and is manipulated with wooden or wire rods.[1] Rod puppets can sometimes have a complete working hinged mouth but many do not. A rod puppet can have a fixed facial expression. Arms are usually a requirement as rods are attached to them. A fish rod puppet could have a rod attached to the tail to manipulate this section of the puppet. Sometimes special variants exist with additional manipulable parts: (e.g., eyelids that open and close). Many rod puppets depict only the upper half of the character, from the waist up, with the stage covering the missing remainder, but variations sometimes have legs. The legs usually just dangle, but in special cases the legs may be controlled either from behind the stage using rods from below. These are mostly used at carnivals or fairs. A very common example of rod puppets are those of The Muppets and Sesame Street.

Human-arm puppet

Also called a "two-man puppet" or a "live-hand puppet", the human-arm puppet is similar to a hand puppet but is larger and requires two puppeteers. One puppeteer places their dominant hand inside the puppet's head and operates the puppet's head and mouth, while putting their non-dominant arm into a glove and special sleeve attached to the puppet. The second puppeteer puts their arm into a glove and special sleeve attached to the puppet in order to operate the other arm. This way, the puppet can perform hand gestures. This is a form of glove or hand puppetry and rod puppetry. Some puppets from The Muppets and Sesame Street fit this category.

Technique

Basic positioning

Hand puppet in a Chroma for television. (Júlia i Gilbert)

As with any stage performer, the puppet should generally face the audience; but may turn to one side or the other. There are times when a puppet does turn its back to an audience just like an actor. Puppets generally should look out towards an audience and not up at the ceiling unless they wish an audience to follow their line of vision. Generally a hand or glove puppet should talk a lot.[2]

Body movement

Bleeckie, a rod puppet from a series of web videos, ready to slide

One of the most important techniques in puppetry is continuous motion. A puppet that remains still has a dull, lifeless appearance and is said to be dead. Motion should shift from one portion of the puppet to another, so that one moment the puppet is moving its head and the next moment shifting its torso or repositioning an arm. The puppet may shift from side to side, look around, lean or straighten, fidget (with part of the stage, its own clothing or hair, or any available object), cross or uncross its arms, sigh, tilt its head, or make any number of other small motions, in order to continue to appear lifelike.

Depending on the type of puppet, more or less complex motion may be possible. Unrealistic motion patterns can sometimes be useful for special effect purposes. As put into words by Oscar Wilde, puppets "are admirably docile" and "recognize the presiding intellect of the dramatist".[3]

A puppet should not move when another puppet is speaking. To do so confuses an audience as to which particular puppet is speaking at any given time. Maintaining clear focus for an audience in a puppet performance is extremely important.

See also

References

  1. ^ Sinclair, A, The Puppetry Handbook, p.15
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sinclair, A p.15 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Scott Cutler Shershow "Puppets and popular culture"

Books and articles

  • Baird, Bil (1966). The Art of the Puppet. Plays. ISBN 0-8238-0067-9.
  • Beaton, Mabel; Les Beaton (1948). Marionettes: A Hobby for Everyone. New York.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Bell, John (2000). Shadows: A Modern Puppet History. Detroit, USA: Detroit Institute of Art. ISBN 0-89558-156-6.
  • Binyon, Helen (1966). Puppetry Today. London: Studio Vista Limited.
  • Choe, Sang-su (1961). A Study of the Korean Puppet Play. The Korean Books Publishing Company Ltd.
  • Currell, David (1992). An Introduction to Puppets and Puppetmaking. London: New Burlington Books, Quintet Publishing Limited. ISBN 1-85348-389-3.
  • Dubska, Alice; Jan Novak; Nina Malikova; Marie Zdenkova (2006). Czech Puppet Theatre. Prague: Theatre Institute. ISBN 80-7008-199-6.
  • Dugan, E.A. (1990). Emotions in Motion. Montreal, Canada: Galerie Amrad. ISBN 0-9693081-5-9.
  • Feeney, John (1999). Puppet. Saudi Aramco World.
  • Funni, Arthur (2000). The Radio Years of Bergen and McCarthy (Thesis). The Margaret Herrick Library.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  • Hayali, Mustafa Mutlu. Tradition Folk The Site. Ankara, Turkey: Theatre Department, Ankara University Faculty of Language, History and Geography.
  • Latshaw, George (2000). The Complete Book of Puppetry. London: Dover Publications. ISBN 978-0-486-40952-8.
  • Lindsay, Hilaire (1976). The First Puppet Book. Leichhardt, NSW, Australia: Ansay Pty Ltd. ISBN 0-909245-06-1.
  • Morton, Brenda, Brenda (1978). Sleeve Puppets. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-11145-9.
  • Robinson, Stuart; Patricia Robertson (1967). Exploring Puppetry. London: Mills & Boon Limited.
  • Sinclair, Anita (1995). The Puppetry Handbook. Richmond, Victoria, Australia: Richard Lee Publishing. ISBN 0-646-39063-5.
  • Suib, Leonard; Muriel Broadman (1975). Marionettes Onstage!. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers. ISBN 0-06-014166-2.
  • PuppetryLab – Advanced puppetry theory and practice tools
  • 101 Hand Puppets – A guide for puppeteers of all ages
  • Puppetools – An Online Workshop for Educators Focused on Play Language
  • Hand Puppet A puppet theatre dedicated to education through puppetry and the use of hand puppets.
  • Uncle Johns Puppets - A puppeteer who utilizes hand puppets instead of traditional marionettes.
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