1. ONE OF THE MOST ANCIENT FORMS OF THEATRE.
PUPPETRY
ONE OF THE MOST ANCIENT FORMS OF THEATRE.

2. Began around 30,000 YEARS BC Used in most human societies
Communicate ideas and needs
Probably pre-date actors in Theatre
A great deal of puppetry involves storytelling

3. EGYPT 2000 BC String operated figures used to knead bread
Wire controlled, articulated puppets of clas and ivory found in Egyptian tombs
Hieroglyphs describe “walking statues” in religious rituals
Earliest written records: Xenophone 422BC

4. ASIA Indus valley Civilization
String Controllable Terracotta dolls-2500 BC
Stick puppet animals
The Mahabharata and other literature describe puppets

5. INDIA Probably the birthplace of puppets 4000 years ago
Sanskrit plays – “Sutradhara” (the holder of strings)
Puppetry described in detail in the Natya Shastra and the Kamasutra
Influenced the Javanese Wayang theatre

6. CHINA Dates back 2000 years Predates other theatre forms
“Theatre of the Lantern Shadows“
(shadow puppetry)
String marionettes are the oldest
marionette puppet.
Glove puppets are the most popular theatrical form in Taiwan

7. JAPAN Bunraku developed out of Shinto temple rites
Became a sophisticated form of puppetry.
Initially consisting of one puppeteer, by 1730 three puppeteers were used to operate each puppet in full view of the audience.
The puppeteers, dressed all in black, were invisible against a black background
Torches illuminated only the wooden puppets.

8. Other Styles of Puppets
TYPES OF PUPPETS
Hand Puppets
Marionettes
Finger Puppets
Rod Puppets
Shadow Puppets
Other Styles of Puppets

9. HAND PUPPETS
Hand puppets are placed over the puppeteer's hand, allowing him to manipulate the puppet's features (head, mouth, hands, etc.) with his fingers.

10. MOUTH PUPPETS
Mouth puppets are usually glove/hand puppets – the thing that distinguishes them is a moveable mouth. Fingers and thumb are inserted into the top and bottom of the puppet mouth to manipulate it as if it were talking. Many of the Muppets are mouth puppets.

11. GLOVE PUPPETS
Glove puppets are hand puppets. The glove puppet fits over the hand like a glove with openings for the different puppet parts to manipulated separately with different fingers and the thumb. It can also be a collection of finger puppets with each finger operating a different puppet. Or it can be a simple puppet that sits on the hand and “crawls” along the floor.

12. SOCK PUPPETS
Another simple type of puppet, often made for children, is the sock puppet. It is also a form of hand or glove puppet but is made from a sock, or made to look so. It is then decorated with eyes, hair, and other features to give it personality. It is operated using the fingers and the thumb to open and close the mouth or allow it to have expression.

13. FINGER PUPPETS Finger puppets are very small puppets that fit
over a single finger.
They aren't as articulate
as other puppets, but
their size permits a
number of them to be
operated by the same
puppeteer.

14. ROD PUPPETS Rod puppets use sticks Or metal rods to move
The head, body, hands
and legs of the figure.
The rods are
usually manipulated
from beneath the
puppet.

15. MAROTTE PUPPETS The marotte is the most
elementary form of rod puppet. Originally, the word marotte referred to a jester’s stick: a wand topped with a head that was trimmed with ribbons and bells.
Today, the term marotte refers to a puppet controlled from below with a single central rod.

16. POP UP PUPPETS
Another style of rod puppet is the pop up puppet. A cone or cup with a rod through it and a puppet hidden inside. When the rod is pushed up, the puppet appears. It is similar in style to a jack-in-the-box.

17. PADDLE PUPPETS
Another simple puppet, is a paddle puppet. The puppet is a body attached to a paddle with an extension that is controlled by the puppeteer. The puppet is articulated and connected with string or elastic bands. When the extension is worked, the puppet moves or dances.

18. BODY PUPPETS
The body puppet is a rod or string puppet where the puppeteer’s face and/or hands/arms are visible to the audience as part of the puppet. The rest of the body, in front of a screen, is manipulated by the strings or rods or simple movement of the screen fabric.

19. WATER PUPPETS
Another Eastern style of puppet can be found almost exclusively in Vietnam.
The puppets are made out of lacquered wood. The shows are performed in a waist-deep pool. A rod supports the puppet under the water and is used by the hidden puppeteers to control them. The puppets appear to be moving over the water. Traditionally, when the rice fields would flood, the villagers would entertain each other.

20. SHADOW PUPPETS
Shadow puppets are often a form of rod puppet, and they consist of a flat silhouette rather than an articulated figure. They are frequently cast from behind a lit cloth, creating shadow characters that act out a story.

21. SHOULDER PUPPETS
These puppets can be simple or complex. They are related to rod puppets but are controlled by a cable instead of a rod. They are more recent in design than most puppets and can even be controlled remotely. They are very popular at Renaissance fairs. The cable runs down the operator’s arm and can be pulled as desired. Additional movements can be created using shoulder and arm movements.

22. BUNRAKU PUPPETS
Any Bunraku puppet is extremely complex. Each puppet requires three puppeteers to bring it to life and the puppeteers are fully visible to the audience. The plays can take a full day to complete. These two characteristics make Bunraku completely different from any other puppet theatre in the world.

23. MARIONETTES Marionettes are controlled by a series of strings or wires
attached to the puppet's
limbs and suspended by
a wooden cross. The
puppeteer manipulates
the cross and strings to
make the puppet move.

24. VENTRILOQUIST PUPPETS
Just don't call it a dummy! Ventriloquism is lots of fun, but it too takes a great deal of practice. The puppet has a slotted mouth that works on a trigger. A good vent figure will also have multiple eye movement and eyebrows.

25. MUPPET PUPPETS
Muppets are puppets created in 1955 by Jim Henson, they are the namesake for the Disney media franchise that encompasses films, television series, music recordings, print publications, and other media associated with The Muppet Show characters. Henson once stated that the term "Muppet" had been created as a blend of the words "marionette" and "puppet". Most are a combination of mouth and rod puppetry

26. ANIMATRONIC PUPPETS
Animatronics is a multi-disciplinary field integrating anatomy, robots, mechatronics and puppetry. Animatronic figures are often powered by pneumatics, hydraulics, or by electrical means, and can use both computer and human control. Figures are covered with plastic, and finished with colors, hair and feathers and other components to make the figure more realistic. They are often used in films, museums and “live” action shows.