Life sized puppets from The Tempest, a Puppet Play.

Storytellers around the world have used puppets for centuries to educate and entertain. Some of the earliest puppets were tribal ritual masks with hinged jaws or jointed skulls used in religious ceremonies. Puppets have evolved from these masks to doll-like figures with moving limbs. Native Americans used puppets in their corn festivals and ceremonial dances. Egyptians made jointed puppets from terra cotta. Puppet theater is mentioned in the writings of both Aristotle and Plato.  The Chinese made shadow puppets from a variety of materials.  In the Middle Ages, the Church used puppetry to spread the teachings of Christianity; and marionettes were also developed during this time.

In the 17th century, hand puppet (a 7figure with a headand a body made of cloth that fit over the puppeteer’s hand) became popular. These puppets were easy to operate, cheap to make and easily portable, making it possible to perform shows on the backs of wagons and from small portable stages. Puppet characters like Punch and Judy were popular, and shows centering around local politics became common. Also in the 17th century, the highly stylized Japanese bunraku puppetry was developed in Osaka, Japan.

As you can see, from shadow puppets to the Muppets, puppetry has found an important home in many cultures and evolved an amazing diversity of styles. The Arabian Nights uses a variety of these styles, sometimes all in the same puppet!  Below are descriptions of some traditional styles of puppets and puppetry.  While you are watching the play, try to figure out which techniques are being employed.  What do all of the puppets have in common?

Zeus, a giant rod puppet from The Adventures of Perseus

Rod Puppets: Stick or rod puppets are manipulated from below, but they are full-length, supported by a rod running inside the body to the head. Separate thin rods may move the hands and, if necessary, the legs. Stick or rod puppets require at least one puppeteer  to manipulate them, and sometimes two or three for each character on the stage.

Hermes, a hand and rod puppet from The Adventures of Perseus

Wayang: This term refers to the Balinese tradition of puppet making. Wayang puppets include two-dimensional shadow puppets, three-dimensional rod puppets and flat wooden puppets.  They have a distinctive aesthetic style, generally with unnaturally large heads and elongated limbs.  

Hand and Rod (Muppet-type): Hand puppets have a hollow cloth body that fits over the manipulator’s hand; his fingers fit into the head and arms and give them motion. The figure is seen from the waist upward, and there are normally no legs. In hand-rod puppets (like the Muppets) the puppeteer’s primary hand passes inside the puppet’s body to control the head and face of the puppet. The puppeteer’s non-primary hand is used to control the puppet’s arms via rods or wires.

Prospero, a Bunraku puppet from The Tempest, a Puppet Play

Bunraku-Type: Japanese bunraku puppets are named for an 18th century Japanese puppet master, Uemura Bunrakuken. These figures, which are one-half to two-thirds life size, may be operated by as many as three manipulators: the chief manipulator controls head movements with one hand by means of strings inside the body, which may raise the eyebrows or swivel the eyes, while using the other hand to move the right arm of the puppet; the second manipulator moves the left arm of the puppet; and the third moves the legs.

Athena with shadow puppets from The Adventures of Perseus

Shadow Puppets: Shadow puppetry is a technique in which a puppet is placed between a light source and a screen. The light source is projected at the screen, and the puppets are then seen in shadow. They may be cut from leather or some other opaque material, as in the traditional theatres of Java, Bali and Thailand, in the so-called ombres chinoises (French: literally “Chinese shadows”) of 18th-century Europe, and in the art theaters of 19th-century Paris; or they may be cut from colored fish skins or some other translucent material, as in the traditional theaters of China, India, Turkey and Greece, and in the recent work of several European theaters. They can be two or three-dimensional.These puppets may be operated by rods from below, as in the Javanese theatres; by rods held at right angles to the screen, as in the Chinese and Greek theatres; or by threads concealed behind the figures, as in the ombres chinoises and in its successor that came to be known as the English galanty show.  The appearance and action of the puppet can also be manipulated by moving the puppet closer to or farther away from the light source.

Stop Action Animation: Frame by frame filmed animation is employed to create cartoons, computer animation and “claymation.” Instead of having puppeteers move puppets in a fluid, real-time motion, either on stage or in film, animators take images, in this case: shadow puppets, and photograph them twenty-four frames per second, moving them each frame only slightly. The cumulative effect is fluid puppetry motion, with no stirrings or rods attached. For Aladdin, in this years production of The Arabian Nights, this technique is employed using shadow figures illuminated on a table-mounted shadow screen. The edited group of images tell the visual story of Aladdin, which is projected with a video projector onto a shadow screen. The puppeteers and performers, meanwhile, create all of the sound effects and voice live.

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