Puppets & Puppet Theatre is essential reading for everyone interested in making and performing with puppets. It concentrates on designing, making and performing with the main types of puppet, and is extensively illustrated in full colour throughout.Topics covered include: nature and heritage of puppet theatre; the anatomy of a puppet, its design and structure; materials and methods for sculpting, modelling and casting; step-by-step instructions for making glove, hand, rod and shadow puppets & marionettes; puppet control and manipulation; staging principles, stage and scenery design; principles of sound & lighting and finally, organisation of a show.

Playwriting for Puppet Theatre provides a foundation for those puppeteers, teachers and librarians who want to develop suitable scripts for puppet theatre. Mattson explores the difference between traditional theatre and puppet theatre and notes the special characteristics of the various puppets. The important aspects of script writing are then addressed. She considers the many general questions which must be answered by the playwright: the type of puppet to be used, the audience, and availability of resources and facilities. Suggestions are then given for dramatizing original ideas and for adapting well-known stories. The chapter on plot development emphasizes the importance of perspective, transitional material and the need for action. One chapter proposes various ways to develop a character through dialogue, names, and behavior. Another chapter demonstrates how the use of rhyme can add interest and humor to a puppet play. Teachers will find suggestions on how to develop a play on a specific theme or about a specific character. Some attention is also given to the mechanics of writing a play. Includes a group of puppet plays which have been successfully performed by Seattle Puppetory Theatre. Among them are Rumplestiltskin, The Princess and the Pea, The Bad-Tempered Wife, The Golden Axe, The Swineherd, and The Fisherman and His Wife. Production notes follow each script. Several samples of manipulation charts are included which may be used as an aid in blocking the puppets and the puppeteers for the various hand puppet productions.

Henryk Jurkowski's seminal 1988 text, Aspects of Puppet Theatre, was groundbreaking in its analysis of puppetry as a performing art. This new edition of a classic brings the original text back to life, including four additional essays and a new introduction, edited and translated by leading puppetry scholar Penny Francis. Henryk Jurkowski's seminal 1988 text, Aspects of Puppet Theatre, was groundbreaking in its analysis of puppetry as a performing art. This new edition of a classic brings the original text back to life, including four additional essays and a new introduction, edited and translated by leading puppetry scholar Penny Francis.

This comprehensive book explores the Malaysian form of shadow puppet theatre, highlighting its unique nature within the context of Southeast Asian and Asian shadow puppet theatre traditions. Intended for a Western audience not familiar with Asian performance and practices, the text serves as a bridge to this highly imaginative form. An in-depth examination of the Malaysian puppet tradition is provided, as well as performance scripts, designs for puppet characters, instructions for creating a shadow screen, and easy directions for performance. Another section then considers the practical, pedagogical, and ethical issues that arise in the teaching of this art.

The first comparative study in English of all aspects of puppetry in nineteenth-century Europe.

Shadow Puppets and Shadow Play is a comprehensive guide to the design, construction and manipulation and presentation of shadow puppets, considered by many to be the oldest puppet theatre tradition. Traditional shadow play techniques, together with modern materials and methods and recent explorations into theatre of shadows, are explained with precision and clarity, and illustrated by photographs that include the work of some of the finest shadow players in the world. Topics covered include an introduction to shadow play, its traditions and the principles of shadow puppet design; advice on materials and methods for constructing and controlling traditional shadow puppets and scenery; step-by-step instructions for adding detail and decoration and creating transculent figures in full-colour; detailed methods for constructing shadow theatres using a wide range of lighting techniques; techniques of shadow puppet performance and contemporary explorations with shadow play; and instructions for making animated, silhouette films with digital photography. Lavishly illustrated throughout, Shadow Puppets and Shadow Play sets out detailed instructions for making and presenting shadow puppets by traditional methods and with the latest materials and techniques. Superbly illustrated with 420 colour photographs and helpful tips and suggestions.

A magical book that turns in to a theater, along with four interactive unicorn puppets.