Practical Guide to Puppetry - by Mark Down (Paperback)

About the Book

An essential guide to the versatile art form of puppeteering with objects, simple puppets and puppets with mechanisms. Puppetry has enjoyed a huge revival in theatres, dances venues and opera houses and is seen as a vital tool in theatrical storytelling. Packed with information on the role of the puppeteer; techniques for bringing objects to life; creating your own puppet show and so much more. Superbly illustrated with 71 colour photographs and 383 figures.

Book Synopsis

In recent years, puppetry has enjoyed a huge revival on the stages of our theatres, dance venues and opera houses. Large-scale productions such as War Horse and The Lion King have revitalized age-old techniques to attract new audiences and develop the power of storytelling. Puppetry is now seen not only as a specialist art form that exists on its own, but also as a vital tool in the armoury of theatrical storytellers. A Practical Guide to Puppetry offers a comprehensive overview to this versatile art form, exploring established techniques and offering expert instruction on styles from shadow puppetry to group puppetry. Each method is illustrated with practical and accessible exercises, achievable either individually or in a group workshop or rehearsal. With over eighty exercises for improvising, training, designing and directing puppetry, accompanied by 400 illustrations, this new book gives a complete approach to puppeteering with objects, simple puppets and puppets with mechanisms.

About the Author

Mark Down is the Artistic Director of Blind Summit Theatre, a company dedicated to pushing the boundaries of puppetry in the UK and internationally. Over the last twenty years, Mark and his team have worked with landmark opera and theatre productions worldwide, including Complicite, the New York Metropolitan Opera, the Royal National Theatre and the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony.