What is blacklight puppetry?

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.

Blacklight puppetry, simply put, is blackening out the entire performance venue, and using flourescent puppets under UV lighting. As the flourescent objects react to the UV lights, they appear to glow and offer an amazing visual effect that delights many audiences.

For those who want to be technical about it (warning: science content ahead!) here’s an explanation.

Blacklight puppet made out of white foam with a hinged mouth and rod for operation. Under blacklight conditions the white foam appears blue.

There is a near-ultraviolet radiant light, which is just outside human visibility. This light reflects off of flourescent materials, causing them to be emitted in a longer, more visible light. Blacklight or UV wavelengths are shorter than 380 nanometers (nanometers are measures of lightwaves); visible light is from 380 to 760 nanometers; and infrared is longer than 760 nm. The most luminescent blacklight materials or colours, are yellow and orange, while blue and purple are the weakest colours. By using objects or puppets that use flourescent colours, and by placing a UV light in front of them (or from above), the items on stage glow brightly; and by ensuring the entire venue is blacked out, and the puppeteers are completely covered in black, the puppets can appear to ‘float’ midair, or disappear from view by magic. (More on what materials to use can be found here)

Did that make sense to you? No? … That’s ok, I really find it hard to understand too… Which is why blacklight puppetry is most often best understood by seeing it, rather than describing it. There’s a great blacklight video below which showcases the concepts.

Blacklight is not just for doing abstract things, like making hands appear out of nowhere, but can be used to create scenes not easily done by normal puppetry. For instance, you can have an underwater scene, with swimming fish, without seeing the floor of the stage. You can have abstract concepts, like lines which turn into circles which turn into triangles… or you can simply do amazingly magical things with your performers, like make them appear to be walking up walls.

Blacklight puppetry is more of a performance style than a puppet type: many puppet makers and sellers offer blacklight muppet-types, while others sell blacklight foam tubes for abstract performances. Any kind of puppet can be made to be used in blacklight puppetry, so long as the materials flouresce.

So, now that we’ve explained it a bit, David Hellyer from Hellyer’s Puppet Workshop has a great intro to blacklight, and underneath that is a video by Attraction Blacklight Theatre, which will show you just some of the concepts that can be done using blacklight. Some more example videos can be found here, and some great forums on blacklight issues can be found here.

Read my review on Let There Be Blacklight. Learn how to make one of these puppets here. [links to be added]