Puppet in a parade
Traditional marionettes in Kathmandu, Nepal
The World of Puppets
The History of Puppetry on British Television
The History of Puppetry on British Television
Wajang Kulit Traditional Puppet
Puppets are deeply embedded into British society. On the most basic level, the child that makes his teddy walk and talk for the pleasure of his parents is putting on a primitive puppet show. Moving more upmarket, there’s the traditional Punch and Judy performances that are sometimes seen during holidays to the seaside, and of course at the many other puppet theatres dotted around Britain. Then there’s television. Children’s schedules are positively flourishing with them, from the old favourite Sooty to the more recent Hoobs. Children tend to gain great pleasure from seeing large furry likenesses talking and acting as if they were human. Due to this appeal to the children it is hardly surprising that the television executives often write off the puppet as “kiddie's stuff”, but is this the right attitude? Are they just entertainment for infants, or is there a wider appeal?
Before we can begin to answer these questions, first of all we need to determine what a puppet actually is. The Encyclopedia Britannica has a definition. “A puppet is an inanimate object moved by human agency in some kind of theatrical show.” This explanation is loose enough to encompass a substantial amount of different puppet types. However, puppets used in the medium of the small screen generally fall into three main areas - marionettes, hand or glove puppets and rod puppets.
Marionettes are complete figures with articulated limbs, and are controlled from above with strings. Hand or glove puppets are simpler, often comprising of a hollow strip of material, inside which is the puppeteer’s hand. Controlling from below, the fingers fit inside the head and arms to give the appearance of life. Rod puppets are again controlled from below, but this time rods are used to move the limbs. Many modern television puppets are a combination of the rod and hand puppet. These definitions rule out stop motion animation shows such as The Clangers and Bagpuss.
People dressed in costume, such as Big Bird in Sesame Street can also be described as puppets. The practice of hiding the actor’s features with an external frame blurs the division between acting and puppetry. In the past many puppet theatres tried to obtain lifelike human responses from their puppets. In today’s modern society we can often see human actors attempting, and indeed succeeding, to become less human and more like the puppet. In the end, both the puppet and actor meet in the middle with the same effect. Neither fully human, and neither fully inanimate and lifeless.
Puppet shows appear throughout history, in almost all time periods and civilisations. Indeed they were mentioned as early as 500BC in such written works as The Symposium by Xenophon, the Greek historian. It is highly likely that the puppet theatre predated written drama, and perhaps even the development of writing itself. The origins of puppets can be traced back to religious ceremonies and black magic. This can be further demonstrated by an Elizabethan word for puppet - ”mammet”. Its meaning is not only “puppet” but also “idol”. Ancient cultures often used moving figurines to worship their gods, for example the Laps in the 17th century incorporated a puppet of Thor into their religious festivals. It was against the power of these puppet idols that the Second Commandment was aimed. Through time, the magical reasoning and beliefs behind the puppet have been forgotten and replaced with the more traditional performances we see today.
Puppet theatre was never meant to be solely entertainment for children. Author of The History of the English Puppet Theatre, George Speaight, puts the message across well. “The puppet theatre has not always been a children’s theatre, but has always been the theatre of the people”. With the adult satirical and social comment in, for example Punch and Judy, this comment is borne out. So why has the puppet been discarded into the child’s toy box? To bring some light to this question and also explain the appeal this ancient art form has to adults, over the next few pages we will be looking back at how puppets emerged onto television, and how they appear on our screens today.