Giant puppet

Last updated

Giant puppet
Dragon - Chinese New Year, Paris, 2011n2.jpg
Chinese dragon performing at New Year celebrations, Paris, 2011
MaterialLightweight materials such as carbon fibre or bamboo
Present locationWorldwide

A giant puppet is a puppet which is tall enough to be easily visible to a street crowd while being manipulated by puppeteers, on the same level. It is therefore most suitable for processions, street theatre and performance art, although some large theatrical animations can be used for the same purpose. Giant puppets are usually articulated and made from a lightweight material. Some are manipulated by puppeteers using rods, strings, stilts, other mechanisms, or a combination of these. Giant puppets have been used worldwide for street entertainment, celebrations or other purposes from ancient times, and they continue in use and in development today. Of the traditional giant rod puppets, the Chinese dragon New Year puppet is "perhaps the most recognized form of the parade puppet". [1] : 100  Of the most recent examples, Royal de Luxe of France has produced a notable set of giant string puppets.

Contents

History

Giant puppets are suited to outdoor performance, especially street theatre and processions, because they are visible above the crowd while remaining on the same level. [2] [3]

Ancient origins

The origins of certain traditions which use giant puppets may be ancient. In Shimla, Himalayas and other areas of India, the Dussehra festivals of September and October celebrate "the triumph of Good over Evil", [2] and 15-metre puppets are carried in procession and then burned. "The principal demons of the epic Ramayana are represented: Ravana with his ten heads, the symbol of destruction and the forces of Evil, accompanied by his son Meghanada (Indrajit) and brother Kumbhakarna. The puppets are made of a bamboo framework covered in layers of paper. Painted in vivid colours, they are accompanied by fireworks to ensure a most spectacular incineration". [2] [4] In the Beembe of Mouyondzi, Congo-Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, the "anthropomorphic musical instruments ... reach the height of 1.5 metres and are carved from wood and hollowed to resonate the breaths of those that carry them, their mouth placed over the puppet’s back". [2] [5]

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (former Zaire) the Bwende people take part in a funeral ceremony that consists of carrying, on a stretcher, an enormous puppet called niombo, an effigy to the dead chief. Stitched in woven fabric ornate with symbols, it is made of wood, raffia and herbs and contains the dried remains of the chief. Its size can be up to 2.5 metres (8.2 feet) both in height and width. The Pende people lift a mbambi puppet, from 6 to 10 metres (19.7 to 32.8 feet) high, deep into the bush, at the end of a masked dance. It is raised by sliding bamboo under the body – which is made up of fabric held together by circular rings of palm branches. The head is that of a bearded mask and the arms, holding fly swatters, are animated using twine attached to their outer-most extremities. [2] [6] [7] [8]

The Chinese giant dragon puppets of the New Year festivals are "perhaps the most recognized form of parade puppet". [1] : 100  This type of puppet performs a weaving dance in which up to ten puppeteers control it at speed, with rods. [2] [9] [10] Japan has its own tradition: "huge traditional hinkoko marottes consist of a vertical manipulation rod, on the top of which is a grimacing head, and a horizontal rod that simulates the arms. They are dressed in a long cloth robe". [2]

Medieval developments

In 1480, [2] the Giants of Douai tradition began, and it continues in the north of France and in Flanders. [11] "Giant, grotesque figures such as Gayant, Cagenon, Saint Michael and his devil" [2] were used in a festival procession commemorating a French attempt to recapture Douai from the Dutch. After France reclaimed Douai in 1771, the annual procession continued, with the same puppets repurposed, only to be cancelled following the 1789 Revolution and then continued again in 1801. [2] [4] [12] [1] : 102 

20th century

In New York in 1963 Peter Schumann established the Bread and Puppet Theater, which employs giant puppets and inspired later works by others. [13] By 1967, the company was "protesting against the Vietnam War with rod puppets of impressive size". [2] In Bread and Puppet's 1969 The Cry of the People for Meat, "the nuptial dance of Mother Nature and Uranus was performed by 5-metre-tall rod puppets: the main rod for the head, to which the costume was attached, a rod for each hand and a crew of six manipulators around the puppet itself". [2] [4]

Giant puppets have been used in theatre too. In 1964 Edmund Tamiz directed Don Quichotte at the Récamier theatre, Paris, using giant puppets. In 1970 at the Vincennes arsenal, Ariane Mnouchkine's Théâtre du Soleil featured some giant rod puppets. [2] [4] In 1973 Dominique Houdart directed Der Tag des großen Gelehrten Wu, which included "giant linear puppets made from aluminium" [2] gesturing with their own manipulation rods and performing together with actors. [2] Between the 1970s and 1990s the Cumbria-based Welfare State International produced giant puppets for processions. [14]

Then in 1990, in the streets of Paris, "some two and a half million spectators gathered in Paris’ Quartier de la Défense to witness huge, exuberantly colourful puppets manipulated to steel band music. As part of a massive festival orchestrated by Jean-Michel Jarre, these immense, mobile skeletons were literally attached to the puppeteers". [2] Giant skeleton puppets have been produced by Processional Arts Workshop from 1998 for New York's Village Halloween Parade. [15] Jean-Luc Courcoult's Royal de Luxe company was started in 1979, but it was in 1993 that the giant marionettes of Le Géant tombé du ciel (or The Giant Who Fell from the Sky) appeared. This involved "a string puppet 9 metres high, encased in mobile scaffolding to which all the points of leverage and manipulation were attached (chords, pulleys, etc). This giant puppet was manipulated by a crowd of "servers" dressed in red livery that jump, pull and generally busy themselves with its levers with perfect coordination". [2] Then in 2000 the same company produced Les Chasseurs de girafes ( or The Giraffe Hunters) in which "the largest giraffe was 12 metres tall, needing twenty manipulators, with six using pneumatic jack handles". [2] [4]

21st century

David Solnit of Art And Revolutions produced giant puppets for a protest in Seattle against the World Trade Organization in 2000. [13] The opening ceremony of the Athens Olympic Games in 2004 featured "a gigantic head exemplifying Cycladic art emerging from the water. Opening into several pieces, a kouros statue appeared, which itself then separated into several pieces, revealing a third form. These sculptures are of interest for their use of string manipulation run by computer programmes and connected by electric pylons". [2] In 2006 the Danish puppet maker Maria Lexa produced giant Sun and Moon puppets for a performance in Berkeley, California. [13]

In 2014 La Machine displayed two of its giant mechanical puppets, the 20-foot-wide (6.1 m) spider La Princess and the 46-ton fire-breathing dragon horse Long Ma in Beijing. [16] Golden Tree Productions' 40-ton Man Engine, [17] "the largest mechanical puppet ever made in Britain", [18] representing a Cornish Tin Miner, was commissioned by the Cornwall Mining World Heritage Site for their "Tinth" [18] anniversary. It toured Cornwall in 2016, and visited other British venues in 2018. It is 11 metres (36.1 feet) high, [18] [19] and it is worked by at least twelve puppeteers. [20] [21] "[The] Man Engine has a giant beam engine as a rocking neck, mining head gear sheave wheels as shoulders, cast-iron flanges and rivets throughout and hands that reflect massive 20th-century excavators". [17] It was made in Cornwall. [22]

Vision Mechanics' giant puppet Storm, which has been toured in Scotland and elsewhere since 2020, represents issues associated with climate change. [23] [24] During the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, the giant string-puppet Mocco was "the centrepiece of the 2020 Nippon festival". [25] In 2020 in Prague, LED artists paraded bright, internally-lit puppets on poles. [26] The Handspring Puppet Company's giant stilt puppet Little Amal was toured across Europe and the United Kingdom in 2021 as the centrepiece of a project called The Walk, demonstrating a positive view of the lone child refugee. [27] [28] Trigger Productions Limited of Bristol produced The Hatchling, a giant pterosaur-shaped dragon puppet, of kite construction, which processed through the streets and then flew over the sea at Plymouth, England, in 2021. [29] [30] In the same year in Siem Reap, Cambodia, The Giant Puppet Project was in its second decade of teaching children to create rod-manipulated giant puppets, of similar construction to the Dragon dance puppets of China. [31]

Manipulation of giant puppets

Manipulation rods

Rod manipulation by visible puppeteers, from underneath or beside the giant puppet, can provide both support and movement. The Théâtre du Soleil and the Bread and Puppet Theater have used rod puppets, as did Dominique Houdart in The Day of the Great Scholar Wu. The best-known rod puppet today is the traditional Chinese Dragon New Year puppet. [2] The arms of the giant puppet Little Amal are controlled by rods. [32] Trigger Productions' kite-constructed dragon puppet The Hatchling was manipulated by rods while walking on land in 2021. [33]

String manipulation

Royal de Luxe's The Giant Who Fell from the Sky (1992) and other projects used giant string puppets. [2]

Stilts

The giant puppet Little Amal incorporates an interior puppeteer on stilts, which are contained within the puppet's legs. The puppet has ten sets of legs to fit ten individual interior puppeteers. [34] [32]

Controls for kites

When the giant dragon puppet The Hatchling, built as a kite, flew over Plymouth Sound in 2021, she was initially lifted manually from Plymouth Hoe by puppeteers, [30] then the vessel St Nicholas held her lines and flew her as a kite from above Plymouth Hoe across Plymouth Sound to the shore where she was retrieved. [29]

Floats

Where giant puppets are unable to walk by themselves, or where a giant walking puppet needs to be depicted sitting or lying down, they can be carried on floats, with only their head and hands being manipulated by puppeteers. [2]

Other puppet controls

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puppeteer</span> Person who manipulates a puppet

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puppetry</span> Form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marionette</span> Puppet controlled from above using wires or strings

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Processional giant</span> Costumed figures in European folklore

Processional giants are costumed figures in European folklore, particularly present in Belgian, French, Portuguese and Spanish folkloric processions. The main feature of these figures is typically their papier maché head, whilst bodies are covered in clothing matching the costume's theme.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sophia Michahelles</span>

Sophia Michahelles is one of the two chief artists and puppeteers of Processional Arts Workshop, makers of pageant puppets and other processional art in upstate New York. She works closely with co-director Alex Kahn. The couple's work, under the informal moniker "Superior Concept Monsters" has been commissioned each year since 1998 to lead New York's Village Halloween Parade, the largest puppet parade and street-pageant of its kind in the United States, drawing two million spectators.

Digital puppetry is the manipulation and performance of digitally animated 2D or 3D figures and objects in a virtual environment that are rendered in real time by computers. It is most commonly used in filmmaking and television production, but has also been used in interactive theme park attractions and live theatre.

Tears of Joy Theatre was a puppet theatre company located in the Portland metropolitan area of Oregon. It was founded in 1971 by Janet and Reg Bradley. The company toured two shows a year to schools in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Montana and Nevada. It toured libraries and puts on mainstage shows in the Portland Metro area yearly. It ended operations August 25, 2019.

Alex Kahn is an American visual/performance artist and co-founder of the arts ensemble Processional Arts Workshop. He is most widely known for his creation of the large-scale puppet performance works that lead New York's Village Halloween Parade each year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Puppet</span> Inanimate object or representational figure animated or manipulated by an entertainer

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Processional Arts Workshop</span>

Processional Arts Workshop (PAW) is an ensemble of performing artists and theatrical technicians founded in 1998, devoted to pageant puppetry and processional art. They are also known by the name Superior Concept Monsters (SCM). They are best known for creating the large-scale puppet performances that lead New York's Village Halloween Parade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Puppeteers Cooperative</span>

The Puppeteers Cooperative is an association of puppeteers, musicians, dancers, and singers, working to form community bonds through the medium of puppets, parades, and pageants. It is an extremely loose affiliation - there is no membership as such, so that people are sometimes surprised to find themselves belonging to the group without having joined it.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">World Puppetry Day</span>

World Puppetry Day is March 21. The idea came from the puppet theater artist Javad Zolfaghari from Iran. In 2000 at the XVIII Congress of the Union Internationale de la Marionnette, (UNIMA) in Magdeburg, he made the proposal for discussion. Two years later, at a meeting of the International Council of UNIMA in June 2002 in Atlanta, the date of the celebration was identified. The first celebration was in 2003.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Water puppetry</span> Vietnamese puppetry tradition

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.

Anurupa Roy is a puppeteer, puppet designer and director of the puppet theater. Puppeteer Anurupa Roy's views puppetry as not "manipulating dolls with strings" but an amalgam of plastic and performing arts where sculptures, masks, figures, materials, found objects and narratives come together with music, movement, physicality and theater to create the theater where humans and puppets are co actors. She started at her group Katkatha in 1998 which was registered as the Katkatha Puppet Arts Trust 2006. She has directed over 15 shows for children and adults ranging from the Ramayana and Mahabharata to Shakespearean comedy to the Humayun-nama. The puppets used by the group range from 3 inches to forty feet. The shows have toured across Europe, Japan and South Asia. A major aspect of her work is using puppets for psycho social interventions in conflict areas like Kashmir, Sri Lanka and Manipur to Juvenile Remand homes. She has worked with youth and women across the country using puppets to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and gender issues. She is a recipient of the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar ine Puppetry(2006). She has been a visiting faculty at the University of California Los Angeles an Artists in Residence at Pro Helvetia Swiss Arts Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Ballard</span> American puppeteer and educator

Frank Willard Ballard was an American puppeteer and educator. Serving as Professor of Dramatic Arts at the University of Connecticut from 1956 to 1989, Ballard developed internationally renowned programs for puppetry education. Opened in 1996 and moved to a prominent new location in downtown Storrs in 2014, the Ballard Institute and Museum of Puppetry was named in his honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferdinand Veike</span> Estonian actor

Ferdinand Veike was an Estonian puppeteer actor.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Little Amal</span> Giant puppet used in 2021 in The Walk

Little Amal is a 3.5-metre (11 ft) partly-animatronic giant puppet which was used as the centrepiece of a performance art project called The Walk in 2021. The project was created by the British production companies The Walk Productions and Good Chance in collaboration with the South African Handspring Puppet Company. With the intention of celebrating human migration and cultural diversity, the puppet was carried during five months from the Syria-Turkey border via Europe to the United Kingdom, and walked and took part in locally arranged events in 65 towns and cities along the way. Little Amal was greeted at some venues by local dignitaries, such as Pope Francis, Vincent Nichols Archbishop of Westminster and Cllr Caroline Makinson, Mayor of Barnsley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Hatchling</span> Flying puppet

The Hatchling is a giant puppet dragon of kite construction; created for street theatre, performance art, procession and flight. It was designed and built by Trigger Productions Limited of Bristol, England, and premiered at a 2021 event in Plymouth, Devon, when the Hatchling processed through the streets, and was then flown as a kite over Plymouth Sound. The Hatchling also presented at The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Pageant, on 5 June 2022, leading a procession of 5,000 street performers along The Mall, London.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Lambeth, Cheralyn L. (2019). Introduction to Puppetry Arts. London: Routledge. ISBN   978-1138336735 . Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Violette, Marcel (2010). "Giant puppets". wepa.unima.org. World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  3. ↑ Baird, Bil (1965). The Art of the Puppet. New York: Macmillan. ISBN   978-0517120576. (Re-published by Bonanza, 1977)
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Giant figures". wepa.unima.org. World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts. 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  5. ↑ Lehuard, R. (1973). "Trompes anthropomorphes du Bas-Congo". Afrique Noire (6).
  6. ↑ Sousberghe, Leon de (1959). L'Art Pende. Brussels: Palais des Académies.
  7. ↑ Widman, Ragnar (1872). "Le culte du 'niombo' des Bwendé". Arts d'Afrique Noire (2).
  8. ↑ Widman, Ragnar (1967). The Niombo Cult Among the Babwende. Stockholm: Etnografiska museet.
  9. ↑ "Dragon puppet". nma.gov.au. National Museum Australia. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  10. ↑ "Chinese dragon dance". nationalzoo.si.edu. Smithsonian's National Zoo. 14 April 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2021.
  11. ↑ Davis, Sylvia Edwards (30 April 2017). "France's Giant Puppet Parades and Where to See Them". theculturetrip.com. Culture Trip. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  12. ↑ "Les Fêtes de Gayant". atlasobscura.com. Atlas Obscura. 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  13. 1 2 3 Gans, Lydiia (October 2006). "Giant Puppets Stand Tall for Peace and Justice". Street Spirit. Retrieved 19 December 2021.
  14. ↑ "Welfare State International". wepa.unima.org. World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts. 2021. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  15. ↑ Morgenstern-Clarren, Rachel (2021). "Urban profile: Processional Arts Workshop. Creators of the Village Halloween Parade's giant puppets". untappedcities.com. Untapped New York. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  16. ↑ Taylor, Alan (20 October 2014). "A 50-Foot-Tall French Fire-Breathing Dragon-Horse Visits Beijing". theatlantic.com. The Atlantic. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  17. 1 2 Pultarova, Tereza (25 July 2016). "Mega puppet sets out across Cornwall". eandt.theiet.org. Engineering and Technology (E & T). Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  18. 1 2 3 "Man Engine". goldentree.org.uk. Golden Tree. 2021. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  19. ↑ Trewhela, Lee (21 January 2021). "Growing calls for The Man Engine to be resurrected to meet G7 world leaders". Cornwall Live. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  20. ↑ "Meet the Man Engine: The colossal mining puppet marching across the West". ITV News. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  21. ↑ Davis, Lindsay (26 July 2016). "Giant mechanical puppet of Cornish miner exists and it's weirdly fantastic". mashable.com. Mashable. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  22. ↑ Morris, Steven (25 July 2016). "Mechanical puppet to tour south-west England to highlight mining past". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 December 2021.
  23. ↑ "Storm". visionmechanics.org. Vision Mechanics. 2021. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  24. ↑ Bhardwaj, Naina (8 November 2021). "Giant puppet Storm visits Falkirk to raise environmental consciousness". Daily Record. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  25. ↑ "Giant Olympic puppet arrives in Tokyo". The Tribune. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  26. ↑ Lacsina, Nathaniel (13 July 2020). "Giant light puppets impress at Street Theater Festival". Gulf News. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  27. ↑ "One little girl. One BIG hope". walkwithamal.org. 'Good Chance. 2020. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  28. ↑ "The Walk". goodchance.org.uk. Good Chance. 2021. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  29. 1 2 "PLNTM 045 the Hatchling-afloat operations". royalnavy.mod.uk. Queens Harbour Master Plymouth. 12 August 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  30. 1 2 Smith, Sandra (2021). "The Hatchling Flight - Sunday evening- part 2". thelostsound.co.uk. The Lost Sound (Dartmoor Fold Choir). Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  31. ↑ "The Giant Puppet Project". jigantics.com. Jigantics. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  32. 1 2 Gentleman, Amelia (18 October 2021). "'People felt threatened even by a puppet refugee': Little Amal's epic walk through love and fear". The Guardian. Retrieved 2 November 2021.
  33. ↑ "The Hatchling in Plymouth: everything you need to know". visitplymouth.co.uk. Plymouth Britain's Ocean City. 2021. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
  34. ↑ Levene, David (27 October 2021). "Little Amal in London, in pictures". The Guardian. Retrieved 31 October 2021.

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Giant puppets at Wikimedia Commons

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.