Hand puppets are officially the oldest of all puppets. We had hands before we had puppets, they are the templates to all puppets, the original puppet. They date back to the prehistoric times originating with shadows reflecting on walls from fires to tell stories, shadow puppets in there most basic form. From there obviously it has developed into something more, including props, paint, sets, re a curing characters etc. The simplicity of the hand puppet and its accessibility is to thank for its popularity. It’s all around the most practical puppet, if you have a hand you have a puppet. The extremities on the hand make excellent limbs for a number of creatures or structures. Putting clothing on your hands and revealing skin on the fingers to look like arms adds and edge of realism.

It stretched to religious purposes, they told stories and gave light to evil deeds and consequences in a very presentable way in the Middle East and South America. Using masks and props such as sticks and leather to tell their stories. Christianity used this tool to spread the word of the lord to the illiterate followers. The next level of story telling.

They played the role in spreading religious believes, entertaining, and reciting history. The all around entertaining tool and enforcer of the power of theater.

Rod Style Puppetry

We have all made a rod puppet in this class—our muppets—which I believe for many were our favorite projects in this class thus far. Perhaps this is because we grew up with rod puppets, specifically hand-rod puppets, a style of puppetry famously developed by Jim Henson. Muppets of this style can be found in Seasame Street, Fraggle Rock, Avenue Q, commercials, and more.

Interestingly, I learned that the muppets in film today have the rods digitally removed in post production. Personally, I feel this both enhances and detracts from the magic of rod puppetry.

         Below you can find some photos that illustrate various ways of controlling a hand-rod puppet. These photos also illustrate the large range of scale that can be successfully accomplished with this style of puppetry. Typically, the dominant hand of the puppeteer is inserted inside the puppet, and the less dominant hand controls the rod. 

Glove style hand puppets are a variation of the traditional hand puppet, being controlled on the interior with the hand. They originated in the seventeenth century in China’s “Fujian” province. Glove puppetry was practiced in the areas of China in which Min Nan was the primary language. Since the 17^th century, it has been more widely practiced in Taiwan.

These puppets use wood to create the extremities of the puppet (head, hands, and feet), and cloth to construct the body of the puppet. When the puppets are used, a gloved hand enters from the rear of the puppet. This gives the puppet a free spirited appearance. Glove puppets are said to have an unpredictable nature because of the way they are constructed. The only finite points of control are in the extremities, so the body of the puppet seems to flail about. When utilized in a creative way, this lack of control can add alot to a performance.

This YouTube link shows an example of traditional Taiwanese glove puppetry. The video also gives a brief history of the art and an explanation of its creation. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0aDui91XyI

Bibliography:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glove_puppetry
http://saratogacitydesk.blogspot.com/2013/08/taiwanese-glove-
 puppetry.html

Nonchalant concrete fellow just wants someone to talk to!

Alright, alright...quit walkin' all over me! Let's have a conversation!

A few weeks a go a theater in my home town, La Jolla Playhouse, put on a Theater Without Walls festival or WOW for short. This included over 20 different productions and activities all through out the weekend of October third through sixth. The productions took place in cars, in parks, in backyards and much more. Basil twist put on a production called Seafoam Sleepwalk; A production that put specially designed puppets in the ocean at Scripps Beach in La Jolla. The Production was conceived and built by Basil Twist and incorporated local Actors as the puppeteers.

 The show starts at the water's edge and moves deeper into the sea, with audience members watching from the sand. Aphrodite appears from the ocean fully formed and eventually turns onto a monster terrorizing the puppeteers. Aphrodite is made out of plastics and many other water resistant materials. She is operated by 11 puppeteers both on the inside holding her up and on the outside operating her arms. Aphrodite's skeleton is made of metal pipes, fencing, and plastic tubing. The added details as well as her skin and facial features are all made out of different types of plastic. Below is a picture from inside Aphrodite.

The story was Basil Twist's fantasy of the myth. Art Historian Pierrette Van Cleve, a patron of one of the productions said of the performance “This is Venus, the goddess of love, shedding her skin, rising out of the primordial sea to be born, and then reborn, this is what creation myths are about. We create, and we destroy, and then return back to the ocean, only to evolve and re-evolve again.”

Due to the unpredictability of the ocean, Aphrodite had a tendency to capsize revealing all puppeteers underneath including Twist. The puppeteers mainly rehearsed in lower tides, rendering them unprepared for the bigger waves. However many audience members found his aspect of the performance to enhance rather than detract. Over all the performance was met with positive reviews.

Below are links to articles about the performance and a video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4GpniN28xY

http://www.lajollalight.com/2013/10/09/‘seafoam-sleepwalk’-brings-wet-wow-theatre-to-la-jolla-shores/?pid=5529

http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2013/Oct/02/seafoam-sleepwalk-la-jolla-playhouse-wow/

Pictures from Marionette blog!

Magic flute as a Marionette Opera!
  Howdy Doody!

Pinocchio!

Marionettes!!

All about Marionettes!

What are they?

• Marionette-style puppets are sculpted model dolls that have hinged body parts.
• The hinged body parts differ depending on what the puppeteer wants the puppet to do (if they want the puppet to nod or shake their head, they will put a hinge in the puppet’s neck. If they don’t want that, the is no hinge).

• The most important aspect of a Marionette (and what makes it most distinguishable to different puppets) is that the whole puppet is attached to a wire system. The wire system connects to a series of connected control rods, which the puppeteer controls. They utilize the puppet to make it do what they wants.

  

Why are they called Marionettes?

• One of the first figured to be made into a puppet was the Virgin Mary. The name “Marionette” means “Little Mary.” 

How are they used?

• Each movable limb is attached to a string that connects to a corresponding control stick. If the puppeteer moves that particular part of the control stick, that part will move as much as the puppeteer allows.

• There are also some cases where the strings attach to rings that the puppeteer wears so that they are not limited by all of the strings being attached to one structure.

When was it performed?

• Not yet receiving its name, marionette puppets originated in Ancient Greece during the 5^th Century B.C.

• Such notable people to have used these types of puppets include Archimedes, Aristotle, Plato, and Homer.

• These dolls were originally created with terracotta, but eventually evolved to clay and ivory dolls during Rome’s control over Greece.

• During the Renaissance, Greek and Roman style theatre influenced the Italians to adopt the style of puppetry and took it full force. Their style of Comedic theatre, Commedia Del Arte used puppets and Marionettes in their performances.

• In the 18^th Century, many artists (such as Mozart) created what was known as “Marionette Operas.”

             “The Magic Flute” as a Marionette Opera

• Today, marionettes are more referred to as “puppets,” but it is still more proper and precise to call them by their name.

• The most immediately recognizable marionette is Pinocchio from Disney’s 1940 film adaption of “Pinocchio.” The most recognizable television marionette, is Howdy Doody from “The Howdy Doody Show” in 1947.

 

Hey, there's a hand up my butt!

Sesame Street behind the scenes

More Muppet photos

I do not want to hear how tired your arms get.  Just look at these guys!

Marionette Links for your enjoyment!

Magic with Puppets, literally
This puppet has an articulated mouth and the operator is hidden.


Making a dragon marionette
Really great how-to fixed mouth fantasy puppet.  Yours won't be quite so complicated, but notice how you need to solve the joints and articulation first.  The details follow, once the armature is set.

Blind Summit Response

This past Friday afternoon, I had the pleasure of attending Blind Summit's production of The Table- a story about a puppet named Moses and his experience being confined to a table.  Through this production, we follow Moses as he introduces us to the great and not-so-great aspects of his strict boundaries.

To create Moses, Blind Summit uses a style of puppetry known as Bunraku puppetry.  Bunraku puppetry was founded in Japan and has gained significant popularity beyond Japanese cultures over the past century.  As we saw in The Table, Bunraku puppetry requires at least three puppeteers- one to operate the right hand of the puppet, one to operate the left hand and head, and one to operate the legs and feet.  These duties can vary by troupe- productions utilizing larger puppets may include a control rod to move one or both arms.  It is very important that the focus remain on the puppet- therefore the puppeteers are often wearing all black clothing, with some companies wearing black hoods over their heads.  The voice of the puppet is generally provided by one person, although some minor noises and chants may include all three puppeteers.  

While Moses' head is made out of cardboard, the head of a Bunraku puppet is usually carved out of wood. Being the most prominent feature, the head is given the most consideration when developing the puppet.  When creating the head, gender is first considered, then classifications are given based on age, social class, and any distinguishing character traits they may possess.  From here, the head is constructed to accurately reflect the characteristics given.  Different styles of heads may be interchangeable among various performances if characters within these performances have similar attributes.  The body of a Bunraku puppet is usually soft- and in some cases, does not possess legs.

The presentation of a Bunraku puppet requires a lot of hard work and extra care to ensure the execution of the performance is fluid and concise.  Below are two links that will allow further exploration of Blind Summit's process and how they have found success in the puppetry business.  The first link is a blog maintained by the Blind Summit group, and the second link is a detailed exploration of Blind Summit's puppet making process.

http://blindsummitguy.blogspot.co.at/

http://www.blindsummit.com/puppets/pages/blind_summit_puppet_making.html

Basil Twist

Basil Twist is a third generation puppeteer based in New York City. According to his website, Twist is the only American to have graduated from the prestigious École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette in Charleville-Mezieres, France. He was first noticed at the Jim Henson International Festival of Puppetry in New York. Twist's work is greatly varied and does not fall into one specific category of puppetry. He has done work in nightclubs, with symphonies, on Broadway, and beaches. 

The abstract and innovative nature of Twist's puppets is one of his most interesting artistic qualities. His show "Dogugaeshi" uses traditional Japanese sliding screens as well as other puppets to tell the story. Another piece of his, "Symphonie Fantastique" is performed underwater. His work also encompasses more traditional puppets, such as marionettes, but often with an avant-garde edge. He has collaborated with many people, including dancers, theatre artists, and symphonies. 

Awards boasted on Twist's website include an Obie, a Drama Desk Award, five UNIMA Awards, two Bessie Awards, a New York Innovative Theatre Award, a Henry Hewes Award, a Guggenheim, a USA Artists fellowship, and a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award.