Book Review: Puppets and Puppet Theatre

This book touches on the basics of a variety of puppet types, building techniques, materials and tools, manipulation, staging, lighting, sound and performance. Because it covers a range of puppet types, it’s perfect starting ground for learning about puppetry.

Puppets and Puppet Theatre by David Currell was one of the first puppetry books I bought. I read it from cover to cover, before knowing much about anything of puppetry and how to build things. So much of what I learned over the years started off with this book.

Inside the book. Click on the image for a larger view.

Currell begins with an introduction to puppetry, through a discussion on the different types of puppets in use around the world. He goes on to discuss the concept of ‘what is a puppet’, and how puppetry differs from human performance. "The actor represents but the puppet is. The puppet brings to the performance just what you want and no more; it has no identity outside its performance…" he notes. That is perhaps one of the more succinct descriptions I’ve heard or read of puppetry. (I recently told a group of students that puppets are just objects, until they are picked up and manipulated; it is that process of movement which brings the object to life)

Currell moves on to discuss the different types of puppets, with clear distinctions being provided for the methods of operation, range of movement available to the puppet type, materials used, and the reasons why you might use it. There are plenty of pictures and examples, and explanations are simple to follow. Currell further notes, before moving on to construction of puppets, that one should pre-plan and design a puppet before diving head first into a build. While that’s a good statement to keep in mind for a novice builder, or for more complex designs/building techniques, it’s not necessarily true. I build puppets all the time without having an exact plan - sometimes it’s more fun that way. It’s also worth noting that without freeform experimentation, sometimes you don’t learn what your skills are, or push the boundaries of your materials or the type of puppet you’re making.

For those keen on building puppets, this is where the book becomes worthy of its purchase: basic aspects of design are discussed. I think all of my understanding on character design comes from this section of the book. Currell states, "You need to create a puppet that looks and moves like the character you wish to convey", and that "the puppet artist has to create and interpret character, not imitate it, so the puppeteer’s art involves simplification and selection…" These simple sentences, and the others that make up the chapter on design, make it clear to the puppet builder the simpler the processes, the better the puppet you make. Many puppet makers use these same principles every day, and it’s worthwhile coming back to remind yourself of these concepts by re-reading this section occasionally.

Moving on, we come to a short section on proportions. Not being any good - at all - at drawing people, caricatures, animals, etc, I found this chapter extremely helpful. It not only discusses proportions of the face, but also of the head, body and limbs, in comparison with each other.

Inside the book. Click on the image for a larger view.

Next, each puppet type is discussed, in relation to various ways to build them, the materials used, and with diagrams and images provided along the way. This is a more indepth discussion than the previous chapters, so if you want to focus on one particular puppet type, this is the point at which to do it. Every variation is discussed, from glove puppets, to more muppet-type puppets, rod puppets, marionettes (Sicilian rod and normal string versions) and so on. (It should be noted that shadow puppets are discussed, but later on in the book under its own chapter, and blacklight is discussed under the chapter of Lighting)

If all of this sounds like vague descriptions of puppet building, then you should keep reading. Tools and materials are discussed in detail, for each part of the puppet; heads, bodies, limbs and so on. A list of useful tools is shown, along with more indepth explanations on a variety of materials, including foam, sculpting principles, wood, designing puppets for the audience’s eye and not the sightline you have at home, molds and plasters, papier mache, and fibreglass. For those who want to learn to make plaster casts, there is an excellent step-by-step guide on a number of methods of how to do it, with diagrams along the way. Paints are discussed, along with making hair.

There’s also heaps of info on adding joints, adding eyes, making movable mouths, bodies, costumes, controls, and so on. Animal characters are discussed in as much detail as human ones, giving you a range of methods or ideas for a variety of body types. All of the techniques mentioned are also for a variety of puppet types and materials, which means you can pick and choose what suits your build the best, and follow the advice given.

The next chapter, on Controls and Manipulation, takes you through a range of methods of operation, from rods to marionette controls. It also explains, quite clearly, how a puppeteer must use those controls for the best possible presentation of movement. A lot of time is spent on marionettes, which is somewhat disappointing, as rod puppets can be extremely complex, and manipulation of heads and feet is also focused on a great deal, but not so much other areas of the body.

Inside the book. Click on the image for a larger view.

Finally we come to the chapter on shadow puppets, where three-dimensional puppets are discussed, along with more traditional 2D characters. Lighting, colour, materials, rods and joints are all discussed in detail, with diagrams along the way. Methods of attaching rods are also shown, as well as presenting methods for moving mouths and legs.

In the staging chapter we’re shown a range of different concepts, from flexible (ie. rearrangeable) booths, construction with wood and aluminium tubing, scenery and playboards, marionette stages, curtains and backdrops, and screens for shadow puppets. In the chapter on lighting, we are given an introduction to the basics of lighting design and equipment, lighting for puppets, lighting for blacklight and shadow puppets (including an explanation to build your own projection unit) and lighting control. While this section is excellent for those unused to lighting design and operation, I would highly recommend further reading from lighting design books, as there is an element of safety involved. The chapter on sound discusses the types of sound systems that you might like to use - this is definitely out of date (it mentions reel-to-reel tape decks… you’d probably want something a bit more modern for your show).

Lastly, we have a short introduction to creating the puppet show, with some basic questions to ask yourself: what do you need, where will you perform, who your audience is, etc. If you’re unfamiliar with the process of creating a show or finding a story, how to work with a script, how to rehearse, and so on, this chapter is ideal. It’s recommended reading for directors new to puppetry; or new directors overall.

It should be noted that the author, David Currell, also wrote two books that deal with more specifics on marionettes and shadow puppets; I have the marionette book and highly recommend it [book review to be added], if you’re looking more for specifics on those puppet types. While Puppets and Puppet Theatre does discuss marionettes and shadow puppets and how to build them, more detail is offered in the other two books. (He also wrote a number of books on using puppets with children)

When I came to begin writing this review, I was going to say at the end something like: ‘Although this book might suit a novice better than one who is experienced with puppetry, the book is still worth purchasing if you’re the latter’. But I find myself being wrong: although I don’t often fully re-read this book, I do find myself returning to it, time and time again, and it’s one of the books that comes off my bookshelf more than the others. The images provided allow you not just to recall methods of building, or refresh one’s memory on a particular type of puppet you’re unfamiliar with; they additionally give you inspiration for character design and the way in which these objects present emotions on stage. I tend to come back to Puppets and Puppet Theatre when I’m unsure of a particular method and need something clarified. I’d actually say that this book is one of the books any puppet builder or director should have in their own library at home. In fact, now that I’ve looked over the book again for this review, I’m going to stop neglecting it and read it more often. In essence, Puppets and Puppet Theatre is one of those must-have books for any beginning or experienced puppeteer.