Lets's have a Puppet Show

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 153, 29 June 1940, Page 8 (Supplement)

Lets's have a Puppet Show

(Continued from Last Week.) TF you have ever been backstage in a puppet theatre you will have been very surprised at the simplicity and even erudeness of the arrangements of stage and scenery. You will have little trouble making your own stage. The most important thing to remember is that the stage floor should be high enough above audience level to permit clear vision of the tiny figures from any part of the room. Consequently the best thing to do is to erect it on a low platform. The size of the arch or proscenium of the tiny stage varies a-ccording to the height of the puppets. If the arch is very high the string* roust be inconveniently long. For ISin puppets the proscenium should be 2ft 6in in height and aft long. It may be a simple rectangle or a. graceful arch. The curtains are run on a bar and ordinary small rings

behind the proscenium. Unbleached muslin, home-dyed, is a* good as anything as it falls in graceful folds. The backdrop s*. first of all, a wooden frame at the back of the stage. It should be sturdy, as the operator* lean over it. Be Mire

that it extends further than the actual width of the stage, as this will prevent the audience- seeing into the wings. The etagefloor (the distance between the proscenium and the wooden frame) should be deep enough to allow facility of movement of the puppets, and yet shallow enough for the puppeteers to move the tiny figures well to the front of the stage. Eighteen-ineh puppets require a stage several feet in depth. Behind the wooden frame is the "bridge." upon which the operators stand. It should be raised sufficiently above the puppet stage floor level to permit the, operators conveniently to manipulate the puppets. Now for the backdrop itself. As it will give the atmosphere to your play, take care with it. Effective simplicity is what you need. Cloth is as good as anything else and very convenient. It should 'be equipped with hooks so that it may be quickly hung on the wooden back frame. A stock-in-trade fox all puppet shows is a

black backdrop if the strings are black; blue or medium grey if the strings are more neutral. A few main hues should predominate, for a background should be simply that, affording a setting which best accentuates the acting figures. Paint the cloth with watercolours, pastels or crayons.

When the latter are used, a hot iron is run over the material to melt the wax into the cloth sur- ' face. Now for lights. Two extension bulbs bung low at the sides of the proscenium are very satisfactory. Carefully experiment in order to find the right place. Coloured lighting effects are created through the use of silk. Blue makes moonlight, red firelight, orange sunrise, and so on. Last 'week we learned how to speak the parts of the little figure*. We shall also have to have "noises off." A little experiment will prove fun and educative. A handful of rice in a box gives a splendid effect of rain! These noises must not be too loud so as to be entirely unbelievable as issuing from such tiny creatures, but then again they cannot be absolutely in scale with the puppet*, for they would not be heard. They must be just loud enough to convince the audience. What sort of a play is best for puppets! Easy, simple, amusing ones. While it is true that in Continental theatres puppets are made to act all kinds of serious and tragic plays, we usually consider marionettes to be gay, amusing and sprightly. Consequently the audience ie apt to laugh no matter what your play Fairy tales, fable* and narratives of adventure . . . anything embodying make-believe . . . are bait. Hobgoblins, dwarfs and fairies lend themselves admirably to puppet plays. The common nursery rhymes are excellent. A good puppet play must not be too elaborate or too long. Do not have too many characters, and no long speeches. Here a word of warning may be dropped- Do not have your stage cluttered up with "properties'." By this I mean chairs, trees and so on. Remember that

the marionette must be guided round all these obstacles, unless lie is. a fairy creature and can fly over them, and you are apt to get strings igrnominiourly tangled, so that the curtain has to be rung down! For presentation there are a few tricks to consider, too. Beat a drum or a gong, or play a musical

composition before and during the opening of the curtain. A gramophone, with a «oft needle, will supply music for a dance, although someone at the piano, as in the old-fashioned silent picture theatre, is best of all. Meanwhile, practice, practise, practise! There is no other way in which you can master marionette*. During the process you will probably think out all sort* of tricks, too. Here is a good one. When a ghost or fairy is to appear from nowhere, it is possible to construct a figure consisting of no more than a hand at each end of a string wi& a, flat head in the middle. From this string depends a gauzy triangular piece of cloth, which gives an indefinite shape to the figure when it k suspended. It is placed flatly on the floor before the act starts, and suddenly raised by the head and arm string*. This is very eueceesful with an audience! We ahall conclude next week with a puppet play.