File spoon-archives/puptcrit.archive/puptcrit_1999/puptcrit.9908, message 418


From: Angusson-AT-aol.com
Date: Sat, 28 Aug 1999 16:16:46 EDT
Subject: Re: PUPT: Mime Article



In a message dated 8/28/99 1:31:43 PM, slovpete-AT-telesouth1.com writes:

<< 5.  Puppet theatre is uniquely able to marry the polarities of the theories
of Artaud (who believed the audience should be able to be completely involved
in the spectacle) and Brecht (who believed that the audience should be aware
at all times that they are watching a play and not real life).  We can have
the audience become totally involved in a character, while, at the same time,
showing them, precisely, the mechanics of manipulating the puppet.
 >>

Preston, et al,

Gee, I wish I had said some of that!

Great dicussions. I've been reluctant to dive in because it's very difficult 
for me to verbalize some of my thoughts on these topics. I've mentioned 
before that I have a "sense" of these things but can't always convey that 
sense.

But Preston has struck a chord here which "speaks" to me.  Puppetry, to me, 
has always been "unique" in all its forms because of this marriage of willing 
involvment of the audience and at the same time intellectual recognition of 
what one was watching to which Preston alludes. I don't agree with the last 
line. I believe that if the audience is totally involved, then the mechanics 
in whatever form retreat to their proper place in the presentation. That is 
to say, they disappear.  Not that the audience isn't aware of what it's 
seeing. Read on.

The audience (me) allows itself to suppress its intellectual analysis of the  
mechanical goings-on in order to participate in the  - let me say -  
spiritual aspects of the production.  Mechanical here might include the 
puppeteer.........

Phillipe Genty  uses the word "animisim" to describe the attributes which we 
as audience impose upon an inanimate object to give it a sense of "life."  He 
bases this on primitive (?) cultures which believe that all inanimate things 
possess a spirit.
Jo Cheng (UConn student in Bart's program)  used the expression that puppets 
allow us to explore the "phenomenon of life."   

The puppet is also unique (and this has been stated before) because it IS. It 
does not have to suppress ITS ego or self before it can realize its character 
as an actor must do. It is created "unique." In a sense, pure. Hopefully 
completed or realized when brought to life by a skilled puppeteer. 

I can't explain it but it happens to me as performer  when I am totally 
focused on the character I am trying to - NOT portray - but CONVEY to the 
audience.  I KNOW when I am successful and it is painfully obvious when I am 
not. Rufus Rose said that the puppet must appear to THINK in order to be 
believable to an audience. I agree but I feel that the puppeteer must BELIEVE 
in the puppet, first, and for the same reason.

I use the word "transported" a lot when discussing a good puppet production. 
A good performance can lift us out of our "everyday" and for a few wonderful 
moments,  let  us soar. We've all had such moments.  It's an amazing gift and 
 an awesome  responsibility to think that we have that same power. 

I might add that puppetry for children might be construed as being "easier" 
but only because they are more willing to be themselves and participate in 
the magic of the moment. We have to work a lot harder to convinvce adult 
audiences that we are worthy of their time. My guess is that puppet theater 
in Europe does not have this problem.

So, how deep am I in it?

Thanks for all of this.

Fred Thompson


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