Aspects of Puppet Theatre

119 Pages·2014·14.852 MB·English

by  Henryk Jurkowski

Henryk Jurkowski
ASPECTS OF
PUPPET THEATRE
A collection of Essays
Edited by Penny Francis
PUPPET CENTRE TRUST
LONDON 1988
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Univ. Library, UC Santa Cruz 1989
First published in 1988
by the Puppet Centre Trust
156 Lavender Hill, London SWl 1 5TJ
© Henryk Jurkowski
All righ1s reserved. No part of this book may be reprin1ed or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means known or later invented, or in any
information storage or retrieval system without written permission from the publishers.
ISBN 0 904842 03 7
Cover design by Lyn Medcalf
Printed by Embassy Press Limited, London and East Sussex
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CONTENTS
Editor's Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . (vii)
Literary Views on Puppet Theatre .. 1
Towards a Theatre of Objects .. .. .. 37
Between Literature and Plastic Art .. . . . . . . 45
The Language of the Contemporary Puppet Theatre . . . . . . 51
The Sign Systems of Puppetry . . . . . . . . . . 57
Puppets and the Power of the State .. . . . . . . 85
Eroticism and Puppetry .. .. .. .. 97
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EDITOR'S FOREWORD
The puppet's evolution as a stage character, from its sacred origins
to its present-day function as animated object, is not widely known,
although it is an essential part of the history of world theatre. Until
now there has been no book in English entirely devoted to the analysis
of puppetry as a performing art.
Because of the marked growth in the numbers of staged performances
using, in whatever form, animation; because puppeteers aspire increas
ingly to recognition as theatre artists of equal status to actors, dancers
and singers; and because institutions of training for puppetry as a
profession are multiplying each year, there is an urgent need for a
scientific approach to the genre. No designer, director, teacher, critic
or student of puppet theatre can successfully deal with this most elusive
of the performing arts without an analytical base to complement the
wealth of practical information that already exists.
Books on 'how to make' and 'how to manipulate' abound and there
are some excellent histories. Books on why artists wish to use puppets
as their means of expression and on the theatrical functions of the
animated figure or object are what we lack. These essays by Professor
Jurkowski are a major contribution to the serious study and the better
understanding of the subject.
Henryk Jurkowski is one of the very few scholars in the world to
have made puppetry his primary concern. He is Lecturer on its history
and dramaturgy in the Faculty of Puppet Theatre Direction in the State
Higher School of Drama of Warsaw and Bialystok, Poland, and visiting
lecturer at the lnstitut lntemarional de la Marionerre of Charleville
Mezieres, France. He is also guest lecturer on various aspects of the
an at academic and professional conferences all over the world. His
writings include a three-volume history of European puppetry published
in Polish and currently being prepared in German and English; a book
to be produced in French this year on the dramaturgy of puppet theatre;
a version of "Faust" and very many articles, reviews and essays in
journals all over world. He is also a critic and semiologist.
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Professor Jurkowski is best known to the international theatre and
puppetry world as the current President of the Union Internationale de
la Marionnerte (UNIMA) - the oldest international theatre organisation
and before that its Secretary-General and Vice-President. He has
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earned the affection and respect of his innumerable friends and co
workers for his positive approach to life, his accessibility and the clarity
of thought that makes him as valuable in commince as he is as a writer.
Working with him as editor and co-t.ranslator has been a pleasure and
an honour.
Penny Francis
General Secretary, Puppet Centre Trust
Editor, ••Animations••
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LITERARY VIEWS
ON PUPPET THEATRE
Performances with puppets are attended mostly by children, a tradition
that was established - albeit unconsciously - in the 18th and 19th
centuries, and in even earlier times when French and Italian showmen
presented their shows in the palace and gardens of St. Germain-en-Laye,
to entertain the young Dauphin through many months of the year.
This is not to say that the puppet theatre of the past was only for
children; on the contrary, it was a theatre for all ages, enjoyed by all.
Children attended performances meant for adults, because in those days
the idea of art especially for children was unknown. They were taken,
indiscriminately, to see everything.
Some might say that adults enjoyed puppet theatre in the past because
of the naivety of the public of those times, but this is not quite true.
The main categories of theatre in those days were court theatre and
popular theatre, and puppets played the same repertoire for the same
classes of audience. Their theatre developed in tandem with actors'
theatre, and was accepted in the same way. In the world beyond Europe
puppets have been recognised as a part of theatre for centuries. In the
Japan of the 17th century it was held in higher esteem than any other
form of theatre, and in Indonesia it was almost the only available form,
leaving little room for others to develop.
On researching European theatre, the presence of the puppet player
is to be found at and on every stage. Indeed for many theatre companies,
actors and puppets were for a long time simple alternatives.
The classical mimes, Greek, Roman and Byzantine, the members of
the Craft Guilds, the priests who organised the Mystery Plays,
Commedia dell'Arte players, the English comedians touring the
Continent in the seventeenth century - all these recognised the puppet
as an attractive means of theatrical expression. The public was fascinated
by the Mystery Play whether performed by puppet or actor; it awaited
with equal impatience the transformation of the flesh-and-blood
Harlequin or the wooden version manipulated by a con1plicated system
of strings. The plays of Shakespeare and Marlowe were performed in
Europe by touring English companies both in a human and a puppet
version, and there is no doubt that the success of Marlowe's "Tragedy
of Dr. Faustus" initiated the very in1portant tradition of Faust on the
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puppet stage. In Italy opera with humans was no more popular than
opera with puppets, with figures immortalised in the sketches of Bernini
and Acciaioli, libretti written by Martelli and Metastasio, and music
composed by masters of the calibre of Scarlatti.
In general, puppet companies were organised like actors' companies,
with their own auditorium, a stage with suitable machinery, drummers
and clowns to advertise the shows. Experienced manipulators were
employed and good writers commissioned, of which the list is a long
one: Le Sage and Fuselier, Sheridan and Foote, Mahlman, Maeterlinck
and Schnitzler, and many writers of our own time such as Garcia Lorca
and Michel de Ghelderode.
Nowadays the puppet theatre revival continues to prove the importance
of puppetry as a necessary branch of theatre with its own following,
its own style, its own aesthetic. For this reason the puppet theatre, rich
as it is in ideas and values that are important for any theory of theatre,
should be considered in any discussion of the aesthetic problems of
theatre art in general.
*
Since the most ancient times, puppet theatre has been an illuminating
source of metaphor, some of which illustrate the relationship between
the Creator and his creation. The Creator used often to be presented
as an unknown and powerful being, sometimes without a name, omni
present, pulling the strings of human actions. The metaphor referred
both to the relationship between God and man, and, equally, to the links
between man and man. Horace wrote in his "Satires":
" ••• 111h at am I to you.?
Look how you who lord it over 1ne
and scrape for others like a puppet on a string!"'
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The notion of God as manipulator was actually introduced by the
Arabs, whose poets and philosophers expressed Arab determinism. Birri,
the Anatolian poet of the 13th century, wrote in his gaze!:
"Wise man seeking for Truth
Look up at the tent of the sky
Where the Great Showman of the 1vorld
Has long ago set up his Shadow Theatre.
Behind his screen he is giving a show
Played by the shadows of n1en and wo1nen of his creation. '''
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