Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performance is also known as a puppet production. The script for a puppet production is called a puppet play. Puppeteers use movements from hands and arms to control devices such as rods or strings to move the body, head, limbs, and in some cases the mouth and eyes of the puppet. The puppeteer sometimes speaks in the voice of the character of the puppet, while at other times they perform to a recorded soundtrack.
A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a marionettist. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms of theatres or entertainment venues. They have also been used in films and on television. The attachment of the strings varies according to its character or purpose.
Colognian or Kölsch is a small set of very closely related dialects, or variants, of the Ripuarian group of dialects of the Central German group. These dialects are spoken in the area covered by the Archdiocese and former Electorate of Cologne reaching from Neuss in the north to just south of Bonn, west to Düren and east to Olpe in northwest Germany.
The Volkstheater Millowitsch, also known as the Millowitsch-Theater, was a medium-sized theatre in Cologne, Germany where popular, low-brow comedies were performed.
Shadow play, also known as shadow puppetry, is an ancient form of storytelling and entertainment which uses flat articulated cut-out figures which are held between a source of light and a translucent screen or scrim. The cut-out shapes of the puppets sometimes include translucent color or other types of detailing. Various effects can be achieved by moving both the puppets and the light source. A skilled puppeteer can make the figures appear to walk, dance, fight, nod and laugh.
A hand puppet is a type of puppet that is controlled by the hands that occupies the interior of the puppet. A glove puppet is a variation of hand puppets. Rod puppets require one of the puppeteer's hands inside the puppet glove holding a rod which controls the head, and the puppet's body then hangs over most or all of the forearm of the puppeteer, and possibly extends further. Other parts of the puppet may be controlled by different means, e.g., by rods operated by the puppeteer's free hand, or strings or levers pulled the head or body. A smaller variety, simple hand puppets often have no significant manipulable parts at all. Finger puppets are not hand puppets as they are used only on a finger.
The Heinzelmännchen are a helpful household spirits or kobolds associated with the city of Cologne in Germany, akin to brownies of Scotland.
Theatre of China has a long and complex history. Traditional Chinese theatre, generally in the form of Chinese opera, is musical in nature. Chinese theatre can trace its origin back a few millennia to ancient China, but the Chinese opera started to develop in the 12th century. Western forms like the spoken drama, western-style opera, and ballet did not arrive in China until the 20th century.
Kasperle, Kasper, or Kasperl is a famous and traditional puppet character from Austria, German-speaking Switzerland, and Germany. Its roots date to 17th century, and it was at times so popular that Kasperltheater was synonymous with puppet theater. Kasperltheater includes various sets of puppets. In some German settings the following characters occur: Kasper, Gretel, Seppel, Grandmother, princess, king, witch, robber, and crocodile. In Austria, Kasperl usually occurs alongside Pezi, Buffi or Mimi, and usually Großmutter and Großvater. The older, more traditional Kasperle shows are very similar to "Mister Punch". There are also "Kasperle versions" of the Grimm and other fairy tales and of "modern fairy tales".
Petrushka is a stock character of Russian folk puppetry. It was first introduced by traveling Italian performers in the first third of the 19th century during a period of Westernization in Russian culture. While most core characters came from Italy, they were soon transformed by the addition of material from the Russian cultural context.' Petrushkas are traditionally hand puppets. The character is a kind of a jester, a slapstick protagonist distinguished by his red dress, a red kolpak, and often a long nose.
Michael Curry is an American production designer who lives in Portland, Oregon. He is also the owner and President of Michael Curry Design Inc. in Scappoose, Oregon, which was started in 1986.
Khmer shadow theatre are forms of shadow play in which leather shadow puppets are used. The two main genres are Sbek Thom, which features the Reamker, and Sbek Toch, which uses smaller puppets and a wide range of stories. Another genre called Sbek Por uses colored leather puppets. The shadow plays of Cambodia are closely related to and also resemble the shadow plays of Thailand, Indonesia (Wayang and Wayang kulit). In Cambodia, the shadow play is called Nang Sbek Thom, or simply as Sbek Thom, Sbek Touch and Sbek Por.
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. Puppetry is an ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in ancient Greece.
Cepot or Astrajingga is one of the wayang golek characters in Sundanese puppetry. Cepot is a punokawan alongside Dawala and Garéng, which do not exist in the original Mahabharata or Ramayana. Cepot is one of Semar's sons. Cepot is a rural character from the fictional village Tumaritis, where he lived with his father Semar and two of his brothers, Petruk and Dawala. Cepot is humorous and easy going, everything Cepot says tends to be funny, and Cepot's act has many slapstick jokes, mostly done together with its antagonist wayang golek character. Cepot in wayang golek puppetry also has other, good looking faces: Astrajingga, described with its straight, humble, good looking and white face. Cepot is the favourite character of Sundanese Indonesian wayang golek maestro Asep Sunandar Sunarya.
Randal John Metz is a professional puppeteer and variety/stage performer. He is known for creating puppet productions, and puppet performer for Children’s Fairyland’s Open Storybook Puppet Theater in Oakland, California, the oldest continuously operating puppet theater in the United States. He currently produces seven different puppet shows a year for the theater, and tours his shows throughout California under the name The Puppet Company. He has served several terms as President and Vice-President of the San Francisco Bay Area Puppeteers Guild.
Russian puppet theater appears to have originated either in migrations from the Byzantine Empire in the sixth century or possibly by Mongols travelling from China. Itinerant Slavic minstrels were presenting puppet shows in western Russia by the thirteenth century, arriving in Moscow in the mid-sixteenth century. Although Russian traditions were increasingly influenced by puppeteers from western Europe in the eighteenth century, Petrushka continued to be one of the principal figures. In addition to glove puppets and marionettes, rod puppets and flat puppets were introduced for a time but disappeared in the late nineteenth century.
Puppet film develops on the basis of traditional puppetry. It is in the form of a film that the main characters are puppets. Puppets' limbs are controlled by people and their mouths usually does not move frequently. The height of a puppet is approximately 20 centimeters and the background is a model which fits the size of the puppet. The film is shot by grid-by-frame photography. Puppet film starts around 1900s. Between 1930s and 1980s, most genres of puppet films are comedy and animation. There are some famous magnum opus such as Thunderbirds series and The Dark Crystal. After 1980s, many horror puppet films appeared such as Puppet Master: The Littlest Reich. Compared to other films, puppet film focuses more on characters' movements and the main audiences are children and teenagers. More and more reality elements are added into puppet film in recent years.
The Budapest Puppet Theater has been open since 1949, with its primary venue currently situated at 69 Andrássy út, Budapest. Since then, both children and adults are warmly welcome to their performances, because they have a motto that “the puppet is not the matter of age, but a genre.”
Animal Cracker Conspiracy Puppet Company, or Animal Cracker Conspiracy (ACC), is a contemporary hybrid puppet company co-founded by Iain Gunn and Bridget Rountree that is invested in pushing the boundaries of kinetic performance, creating performances that "decenter expectations, open new avenues of thought, and invoke the uncanny." Their ongoing practice is based on a shared interest and exploration of where fine art, puppetry, performance art, circus, dance, film, and mixed media intersect. They perform nationally and internationally out of a multiplicity of venues such as La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, California, where the company resides. ACC specializes in inclusive multimedia performances that encourage difficult discussions and foster community through local theater, Street Parades, and national tours.
Ludwig Sebus is a German singer, composer and lyricist
