Look For Ostrich Stage Puppet at Amazon
|
Theater puppets have been employed ever since we could make shadows with our hands in caves to tell stories. It is a form of escape that does not require electricity, film, recordings, effects. It’s simple form and function in the form of a puppet. Theater puppets are representative methods in which we tell a story that is compelling. We all recognise the Muppets and the vast numbers of children they have taught the abc’s and 123′s through the TV show “Sesame Street.” It’s that “Compelling” portion that got us as kids so mesmerized by seeing a green furry guy with a bad temper who lived in a trash may turn into a nice guy a lot of times. All the while not being a real living thing, but cloth, yarn, plastic, rods, and string around 2 people’s hands. I will never forget the initial few sessions my kids had with the child psychologist after my divorce. The psychologist gave them a play vehicle using a puppet theater so that they could talk about their issues using the puppets as the vehicle for their anger and fears through the divorce process. It was then that I genuinely understood the power of the puppet theater. It’s a way for society to voice their unfeigned voice, but through the actions and words of a puppet that genuinely ISN’T them. Ventriloquist dummies are my favorite. I will never forget the initial time I saw Jeff Dunham and his cast of puppets. Seeing puppeteers that run puppets for their puppets is such a metaphysical mind mess that the message is clear… from time to time we are the puppets of an individual else. And a lot of times that person is an individual else’s puppet. And so on. Puppets may be as little or as big as you want them to be. In North Carolina there is a troupe named the “Paperhand Puppet Intervention” that uses recycled materials for their puppets that may at times be as tall as 2-3 stories high, run by a great deal of people, moving tardily through the crowd. At UNC’s Forest Theater I’ll never forget the look on my kids faces as a giant sun with arms and legs crawls through the crowd, or when a herd of puppet cows moseyed down the aisle. I once watched the troupe recreate humane sexuality with puppets (And the horrored looks on some parents’ faces when the puppet show they thought they were observing wasn’t suitable for 5 and 9 year olds they brought to the show!). No matter what your love of puppetry, the best use is for your OWN expression and love of humanity. To have a puppet to tell your world view, to tell jokes, to exercise ventriloquism and throwing your voice, or just to move around in humane life-like energy to amaze friends, family, and kids allows you to express yourself without using your self, but a toy. Bunraku puppets are those Japanese puppets run by 2-3 humans to be as life-like as possible. The puppeteers are totally visible but are occasionally dressed in black to be a shadow in the background, or are so good at their life-like craft that you don’t detect them there at all. When you are genuinely good at controlling the puppet, there is no reason to hide behind the curtains of the theater anymore. If you live in New Orleans, full-body Carnival puppets are commonplace with grotesque faces and at times rods to move arms and legs. Mardi Gras wouldn’t be finish without them. Once they come out the crowd takes on the faces and mimsy of the puppets to get the party more riled up. The marionettes from “The Sound of Music” movie are my earliest recollection of theater puppets and marionettes. I do not forget searching and searching for a toy store that would have a set of similar puppets. I was disappointed to never find any, and to find my dad purchased a styrofoam kit for me to build a walking Ostrich. Fun, but not the same. That was before the internet. Now you have a wide assortment to choose from. Puppets have been necessary in my life and what better way to make them more a share of my life than to own one or two. I now have a home puppet theater for my children so they may put on shows and I may sense what has been crucial to them not so long ago through their play. I have a ventriloquist dummy in the form of a doctor who does house calls, and our church has a “Puppet Ministry” where the kids act out the puppet parts. The artistic expression of puppets is now making it to YouTube. Search “Twilight puppet” and see the parodies of the Twilight Movies. So make sure you make or have theater puppets in your life to play! Child or adult, the expression of your sensations of joy through puppets will concede you to express much more than without them. Please see my blog, http://theaterpuppets.net for more of my writings and links in regards to puppets and puppetry, and to see links to Twilight puppet parodies on YouTube. |
One of the Best Folkmanis Puppets
