CHAPTER 1
Puppetry and puppet theatre have a long and fascinating heritage. The origins of this visual and dramatic art are thought to lie mainly in the East, although exactly when or where it originated is not known. It may have been practised in India 4000 years ago: impersonation was forbidden by religious taboo and the leading player in Sanskrit plays is termed sutradhara (‘the holder of strings’), so it is likely that puppets existed before human actors.
Tiny Tim, aBunraku-style puppet, one metre tall and constructed in fine detail by Raven Kaliana for Dickens’A Christmas Carol.
In China, marionettes were in use by the eighth century AD and shadow puppets date back well over 1000 years. The Burmese puppet theatre had a significant influence on the development of the human dance drama, and a dancer’s skill is still judged on his or her ability to recreate the movements of a marionette. And Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725), Japan’s finest dramatist, wrote not for human theatre, but for theBunraku puppets which once overshadowed theKabuki in popularity;Bunraku is a blend of the arts of puppet theatre, narration andshamisen music.
In Europe, the puppet drama flourished in the early Mediterranean civilisations and under Roman rule. The Greeks may have used puppets as early as 800 BC, and puppet theatre was a common entertainment – probably with marionettes and glove puppets – in Greece and Rome by 400 BC, according to the writings of the time. In the Middle Ages, puppets were widely used to enact the scriptures until they were banned by the Council of Trent. Since the Renaissance, puppetry in Europe has continued as an unbroken tradition.
Javanesewayang golek rod puppets.
Sicilian puppets – knights one metre (three feet) high, wearing beaten armour and operated from above with rods – have performed the story of Orlando Furioso since the sixteenth century, but this type of puppet was, in fact, in use as long ago as Roman times. In Germany, puppets have performedThe History of Doctor Faustus
