A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. A puppeteer can operate a puppet indirectly by the use of strings, rods, wires, electronics or directly by his or her own hands placed inside the puppet or holding it externally or any other part of the body- such as the legs. Some puppet styles require two or more puppeteers to work together to create a single puppet character.
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.
Bunraku, also known as Ningyō jōruri (人形浄瑠璃), is a form of traditional Japanese puppet theatre, founded in Osaka in the beginning of the 17th century. Three kinds of performers take part in a bunraku performance: the Ningyōtsukai or Ningyōzukai (puppeteers), the tayū (chanters), and shamisen musicians. Occasionally other instruments such as taiko drums will be used.
William Britton "Bil" Baird was an American puppeteer of the mid- and late 20th century. In a career that spanned over 60 years, he and his puppets performed for millions of adults and children. One of his better known creations was Charlemane the lion. He and his wife Cora Eisenberg Baird (1912–1967) produced and performed the famous puppetry sequence for "The Lonely Goatherd" in the film version of The Sound of Music. His son Peter Baird was also a puppeteer, and he continued his family's legacy until his own death in July 2004.
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 talented 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 hand or 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.
Kathputli is a string puppet theatre, native to Rajasthan, India, and is the most popular form of Indian puppetry. Being a string marionette, it is controlled by a single string that passes it from the top of the puppet over the puppeteers.
Togalu gombeyaata is a puppet show unique to the state of Karnataka, India. Togalu gombeyaata translates to "a play of leather dolls" in the native language of Kannada. It is a form of shadow puppetry. Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat has undertaken research on this art and has a good collection of leather puppets.
Sakorn Yang-keawsot was a Thai puppeteer. He was a master of the hun lakorn lek. Also known by his English nickname, Joe Louis, in 1985 he founded the Joe Louis Puppet Theatre. He was named a National Artist for performing arts in 1996.
Yeshwant Keshav Padhye was the pioneering Indian Ventriloquist who started ventriloquism in India in the 1920s. He was also a puppeteer and maker.
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or 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 often speaks in the voice of the character of the puppet, and then synchronizes the movements of the puppet's mouth with this spoken part. The actions, gestures and spoken parts acted out by the puppeteer with the puppet are typically used in storytelling. Puppetry is a very ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in Ancient Greece. There are many different varieties of puppets, and they are made from a wide range of materials, depending on their form and intended use. They range from very simple in construction and operation to very complex.
Tholpavakoothu is a form of shadow puppetry that is practiced in Kerala, Tamil Nadu, India. It is performed using leather puppets and is performed in temples or in villages in specially built theatres. This form of art is especially popular in the Madurai and nearby districts of Madurai in TamilNadu and also in palakkadThrissur and Malappuram districts of Kerala.
Yoke thé is the Burmese name for marionette puppetry. Although the term can be used for marionettery in general, its usage usually refers to the local form of string puppetry. Like most of Burmese refined art, yoke thé performances originated from royal patronage and were gradually adapted for the wider populace. Yoke thé are almost always performed in the form of Burmese operas.
Kogga Devanna Kamath was an Indian artist who specialised in Yakshagana puppetry.
Water puppetry is a tradition that dates back as far as the 11th century when it originated in the villages of the Red River Delta area of northern Vietnam. Today's Vietnamese water puppetry is a unique variation on the ancient Asian puppet tradition.
Chadar Badar, also known as Santhal Puppetry, is a tribal performing art of the Santhal people, mainly found in the Indian states of Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Assam. Once a dying art form, it was revived by the efforts of social activists such as Ravi Dwivedi and exponents like Sukan Mardi and Daman Murmu. The Government of west Bengal has set up a National Puppet Museum at Kankurgachi to preserve the art forms of puppetry including Chadar Badar.
Suresh Dutta is an Indian puppet artist, theatre personality and the founder of Calcutta Puppet Theatre, a Kolkata-based theatre group dedicated to puppetry. Born in Faridpur, in the undivided Bengal of the British India, he trained art under Phani Bhushan, a Jatra exponent, and Kathakali under Balakrishna Menon. He has also learnt fusion style of danceform from maestro Uday Shankar. He also learnt Bharatanatyam and Manipuri before moving to Russia, under a scholarship in 1962, to train in puppetry under the Russian puppeteer, Sergey Obraztsov.
Mary Phipps Putnam Churchill was an American puppeteer, educator, and entrepreneur. Her puppet troupe, The Cranberry Puppets, entertained children for 25 years with witty feminist adaptations of folktales. Churchill was founder and director of Puppet Showplace Theater in Brookline, Massachusetts.
Gopalila also called as Krishnalila is a traditional form of itinerant glove - puppet theatre of Odisha state. The art of Gopalila is mainly concentrated in the coastal district includes, Cuttack, Puri, Kendrapara, Ganjam and Dhenkanal. Gopa refers to the "cowherd boys" in associated with the life of lord Krishna and Lila means "play". The puppeteers are Gopals belongs to the caste of cowherds. In religious occasions, especially Janmastami and Govardhan Puja, the puppeteers performed to entertain local villagers. Puppets are made of wood and paper and their bodies are padded with cloth. The lower half being covered with a long skirt. In southern Odisha, the puppets have legs which touch the ground; but in the north Odisha, the puppets are without legs.
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