START HERE

Lighting your puppets.
Where to buy puppet supplies in Australia?

In my article describing light curtain, I began to discuss some of the details of how you could use one for your own show. Because light curtain may initially confuse the reader, I offer the following not just as a tutorial, but as a way to further understand what light curtain is and how it works.

As explained in the light curtain article, a curtain of light is created by directing two beams of light at each other. Objects that are placed in front of, or within, the light can be seen by the audience. Objects that are placed behind the beam of light can’t be seen. This means that you can have puppeteers wandering around onstage without creating a large set to hide them: but in order to make an effective light curtain, you will need to follow some basic steps. It should be noted that puppeteers behind the curtain of light can see each other, as well as everything in front of them. It’s quite an eerie experience! Video example at the end of the post.

continue reading...

Technically speaking, white light theatre isn’t a type of puppetry, but rather a ‘convention of theatre’. A convention is really just a fancy way to describe different styles of performance, like circus, or dance. White light theatre is also not really a term that most puppeteers use, since ‘white light’ itself is just … well, plain theatre. What do I mean by that?

continue reading...

One of the the best things about puppetry is that you can create images, scenes or performances, which allow the imagination to soar. As discussed in the post on using puppetry for performance [link to be added], puppets can do a range of things that human actors can’t - and blacklight puppetry is just one of those things. Video example at the bottom of this post.

continue reading...

The book offers a small explanation of what blacklight puppetry is, the benefits of using it, plus some info on lighting, choosing puppets, materials and tools, and includes a pattern and instructions on making a blacklight puppet sun (pictured on the front of the book).

continue reading...