A GUIDE to PUPPETRY
introduction
Welcome to the world of Puppetry. After a performance, we often hear, "How do you go about creating a new show? We’d like to do one on our own!" What follows is a very brief introduction to Puppet Theater as presented by Rainbow Productions. We’ll take a look at how a program is developed from the initial idea to the final performance. This is in no way an exhaustive look at all of the many styles and approaches to the art of puppetry. It is merely the way we have gone about developing and presenting programs since 1977. We hope that by seeing the steps we take in creating a show, you’ll come up with some great ideas of your own.
TYPES OF PUPPETS
Before starting to create a puppet program, you may want to decide what type of puppet you’d like to work with. There are so many types to choose from and each have their own special qualities and challenges. Marionettes, or string puppets, are one of the first type of puppets people think of. This is perhaps due to the popularity of the story Pinocchio. The advantage of marionettes is that it is a full length puppet. You can see arms and legs. The most elaborate have working mouths and eyes. They can be quite expressive. They are operated from above, often with the puppeteer standing on a raised "galley." The disadvantage to marionettes is that they take a great deal of skill and practice to present effectively. Rainbow began touring with marionettes in productions of "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "The Sleeping Beauty." Later, Rainbow traded in these marionettes for rod puppets.
A rod puppet is a descendant of early Eastern shadow puppets. The puppet body is generally attached to a rod which is operated from below. Other rods are used to operate the arms of the puppet. Rainbow refined the rod design to include a special holder at the bottom of the puppet which allowed one puppeteer to control two or three puppets on stage at the same time. This was helpful in programs which featured a large cast of characters.
MORE PUPPETS . . .
The Rainbow rod puppets were quite effective for performances in smaller theaters. As we started doing shows in larger theaters, it became necessary to create larger puppets. That has led to our use of "Big Mouth" puppets. The name, of course, refers to the large heads and mouths of these characters. A big mouth puppet, like the rod puppet, is operated from below. Many have rods which control the arms. In the case of our large "Mother Goose" puppet, the wings are controlled by a puppeteer’s arm from inside the puppet. Big mouth puppets have worked well for our recent performances. The correct operation of the mouths does take a great deal of practice. It can also be very tiring to operate a big mouth puppet for long periods of time.
Hand puppets and rod puppets are faster and easiest to learn and perform. The most basic hand puppet can be created from a paper lunch bag or a discarded sock (my first puppet was a panther created from a sock). Rod puppets can be built from discarded plastic containers. An old detergent bottle can be turned into a great fish puppet with a little construction paper, a stick, and a lot of imagination.
(Think smart — don’t use containers that once contained toxic substances!)
OPERATING ROD AND HAND PUPPETS
The diagrams below demonstrate the proper way to hold and manipulate rod and hand puppets. Here are a few rules to remember:
Don’t hold the puppet too high or too low. The bottom of the puppet should be right at the top "lip" of the stage.
Don’t just "pop" the puppet up when they are ready to perform. Have them "walk on" from one side of the stage or the other. Or, practice having the puppet "walk up stairs" from the back of the stage. This requires the puppeteer to lean way back, bobbing the puppet up and down as the puppeteer straightens up. You can reverse this action as well by having the puppet turn and "walk down stairs" to the back of the stage as a way to exit.
Remember that your puppet must "perform" even when other characters onstage are talking. Make sure that your puppet is focused on the dialog and action at all times, don’t let him slump over or slowly drop offstage until his next piece of action or dialog.
If you’re using rod puppets, an advanced technique that can be fun to practice is having your puppet clap hands. This requires you to hold the arm rods at about mid point, just like chopsticks. Then, use your fingers to create a scissors-like action which makes the puppet appear to be clapping. If you can master this difficult technique, you’re well on your way to being a great puppeteer.
The illustration on the left shows puppets being held too low, too high, and just right.
The illustration on the right shows "Walking up stairs" - the puppeteer bends backward, bobbing the puppet up and down as the puppeteer straightens up
performance stages
Rainbow’s current stage is a traveling facade that expands to 12 feet high, 15 feet long, and ten feet deep. We also carry sets, sound equipment, and special effects. It can be set up in about 30 minutes. While this type of setup is necessary for a program like "Jack and the Beanstalk," you may not need so much equipment for your production.
A shower curtain and an expanding rod, placed in a large doorway can make an excellent hand puppet stage. A colorful to-the-floor table cloth over a long table can also work quite well. A refrigerator box, decorated with colorful paper, with an appropriate-sized hole cut in the top can make an excellent performance stage.
scripting a show
While it is certainly possible to improvise a puppet performance, we prefer to carefully script our productions, then record the voices, sound effects and music on tape, then use this tape for our live performances. It is not unusual, after the first few performances of our shows, for us to go back and edit or re-write sections of the performance to improve audience reactions.
For your puppet productions, you should be able to find puppet scripts in your local library or from various theatrical script suppliers. Rainbow can also supply your group with puppet scripts. You might have more fun creating your own. This can be a great team project if you have a creative group to work with. Here’s a few hints and suggestions:
Consider adapting a classic story. Old favorites like "The Three Little Pigs," "The Three Bears," or "Red Riding Hood" allow for only one or two sets and feature about four or five puppet characters. If you are basing your show on an existing story, be sure to get permission from the copyright holder or choose a "public domain" story which is not copyright protected.
Consider using a puppet or live narrator to help "move the story along" and to cover the time necessary to change scenery. Long periods of inactivity between scene changes can easily cause you to lose a young audience.
Will you record the program or will you perform the voices live? If you are trying to utilize a large number of people, consider performing live. Assign one person to operate each puppet, one person
to create the voice for each puppet, one person to operate each individual sound effect, and another to operate a tape recorder with background music.
Speaking of sound effects, a woodblock hit with small sticks can be used to create the sound of your puppet’s feet walking across the stage. A toy slide whistle can be used to accent jumps and falls. A tambourine, struck quickly, can also be used to accent falls. Musical selections from Tchaikovsky’s ballet scores for "Sleeping Beauty" and "The Nutcracker" make great background music for many puppet stories. To make things easy for your tape operator, you could put each musical selection on an individual tape. Label each tape as "Music Cue #1," "Music Cue #2," etc.
Finally, put everything in writing! This will help everyone pull together for a polished performance. Here’s a standard format for a script:
Scene from "JACK AND THE BEANSTALK"
**MUSIC CUE # 1
**SOUND EFFECT #1: GIANT’S FOOTSTEPS (banged on a hollow box)
(THE GIANT storms on from stage right. JACK and GRANDPA are hiding behind the curtains.)
GIANT
Fee, Fie, Foe, Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!
GRANDPA
(behind the curtain) Scoot over and give me a little more room!
GIANT
(ripping open the curtain) Ah, there you are!
**SOUND EFFECT #2: CURTAIN RIPS (a piece of heavy paper)
JACK
Quick Gramps, let’s make a run for it!
GRANDPA
I’m with ya’!
(JACK & GRANDPA run from THE GIANT).
**SOUND EFFECT #3 - JACK & GRANDPA JUMP (slide whistle)
**SOUND EFFECT #4 - JACK & GRANDPA RUNNING (wood block)
GIANT
Just wait ‘til I get my hands on you
(THE GIANT starts to run for JACK & GRANDPA)
** SOUND EFFECT #5 - THE GIANT RUNNING (hollow box)
JACK
You’re too slow for us! Come on Grandpa — follow me up the window and down the beanstalk.
GRANDPA
I’m not going anywhere without that magic goose. (grabs the goose)
**SOUND EFFECT #6 - GOOSE SQUAWKS (horn honk)
JACK
Now, let’s get out of here!
(JACK & GRANDPA run up to the window then climb down the beanstalk).
**SOUND EFFECT #7 - JACK & GRANDPA run to the window (wood block)
GIANT
Give me back my goose!
GRANDPA
It’ll never happen. Get him!
(THE GOOSE bites THE GIANT on the nose).
**SOUND EFFECT #8 - GOOSE HONKS (horn honk)
**SOUND EFFECT #9 - GOOSE BITES GIANT'S NOSE (ratchet sound)
GIANT
Oh, my nose. He bit my nose! (GIANT falls backward)
**SOUND EFFECT #10 - GIANT FALLS BACKWARD (tambourine)
JACK
Come on Gramps!
**SOUND EFFECT #11 - JACK, GRANDPA and GOOSE SLIDE DOWN BEANSTALK (slide whistle)
GIANT
This isn’t over!
rehearsal & performance
As an exercise, have your group act out the script on the previous pages. You can use simple paper bag puppets for the characters and have a live performer play The Giant, just like we do in our production.
For those assigned to operate sound effects and character voices, make sure the sounds match the action onstage. For the person operating the background music, make sure it does not overpower the character’s voices or the sound effects. For those assigned the task of operating puppets, make sure their actions work with the voices and effects. You’ll also need to practice the movements of each puppet to avoid running into one another (this is called blocking).
If you don’t get it right the first time, don’t panic! The scene was written to be especially challenging — with lots of sound effects and action.
Once you’ve finished the exercise, it’s time to develop your own puppets, script, and stage. Then it’s time to practice, practice, practice! This leads to the point of all this effort and hard work ... the performance. I know it’ll be a great show!
a final word
I hope you have learned a little bit about what goes into producing a puppet production and hope that you’ll be inspired to create one of your own. Let us know how you do and we hope to see you again the next time we travel your way!
Related story:
Putting it Together Go behind the scenes as Rainbow prepares a new show.