Sofiia Rosa-Lavrentii The current research focuses on the methods and adaptations that the Ukrainian puppet theatre has explored in order to build communication with younger viewers in times of war. In the article, we explore how the modern puppet theatre presents such difficult topics as war and trauma and also how it specifically communicates with its youngest audiences. We explore the question: “What is the role of theatre in speaking and creating narratives on topics provoked by the war?” In discussing the creativity of Ukrainian puppet theatres from this perspective, we single out several distinct themes, each of which is …
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Opening Doors to Tradition: The Osaka Bunraku Workshop as a Model for Engagement
Seiko Shimura and Robin Ruizendaal This report examines an interactive traditional performing arts project conducted in Osaka in January 2024, designed to inspire students to engage with and appreciate traditional arts in a globalized context. The project demonstrated that traditional performing arts can integrate modern creative elements while preserving their cultural essence, offering a replicable model for engaging younger audiences. By participating in production and performance, students overcame preconceived notions of traditional arts as “difficult and old-fashioned” and discovered their joy and value. The study underscores the importance of hands-on educational experiences and innovative approaches that balance tradition with modernity …
Puppetry in the Face of War: A Study of the Odesa Puppet Theatre Project
Matt Smith, Tamara Rozova, Nataliia Borodina, and Tetyana Ovcharenko This article is devoted to the discussion of Puppetry in the Face of War: A Study of Odesa Puppet Theatre project, which took place in 2023.[1] This project focused on puppetry’s socio-humanitarian role during the war and as a part of the subsequent recovery of Ukraine. The activities of the puppet theatre were analyzed through the prism of children’s education and socialization during the war. Research methods included artist interviews, historical narratives of the puppet theatre, surveys, and photography as sources. As a result of the study, we determined three significant spheres of influence of the puppet theatre …
Mane Bernardo and Sarah Bianchi’s Acting Hands: Pantomime of Hands and Modern Puppet Theatre
Bettina Girotti In this article I analyze a series of performances, developed since the 1950s by Mane Bernardo and Sarah Bianchi, that uses the puppeteer’s bare hand, which led to the creation of a technique called pantomime of hands. [1] I will examine the limits of the traditional definition of puppet and the practices it encompasses, along with the notion of experimentation proposed by Bernardo, an idea marked by the tensions between traditional and modern puppet theatre. I aim to place this new technique among others that contributed to the modernization of the puppet theatre in Argentina. Bettina Girotti holds …
Pictures and Puppet Performance: Peter Schumann’s Bedsheet Paintings
John Bell Late in his life, and influenced by the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, the death of his wife Elka, and his frustration with the persistence of US-supported wars around the world, Bread and Puppet Theater director Peter Schumann began a new phase in his art and theatre making by creating hundreds of paintings on discarded bedsheets, and then using them in different ways in Bread and Puppet productions of the early 2020s, especially productions focused on the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. The article argues that this reflects Bread and Puppet’s continuing interest in exploring new forms, as …
PERFORMANCE REVIEW: Dracula: Lucy’s Dream and A Dolls’ House
Dracula-Lucy’s Dream. By Plexus Polaire and Puppentheater Halle. Director Yngvild Aspeli. Dramaturges Ralf Meyer and Pauline Thimonnier. Inspired by Dracula by Bram Stoker. Theatre du Blavet, Inzinzac-Lochrist, France, March 10, 2023 and La Patinoire, Avignon, France, July 7-24, 2023. A Doll’s House. By Plexus Polaire. Directors Yngvild Aspeli and Paola Rizza. Based on A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen. Bayard Square, Charleville, France, September 16-17, 2023 and Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne, Dijon France March 12-20, 2024. Yngvild Aspeli, the artistic director of French-Norwegian company Plexus Polaire, believes that puppetry can hold its own as theatre—not just as a subgenre. Her productions …
CONFERENCE REPORT: Portrait of the Puppeteer as Author
Portrait of the Puppeteer as Author: Second International PuppetPlays Conference: Writing Practices for Puppets in Western Europe (Seventeenth – Twenty-first Century). Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3, Montpellier, France, 23-25 May 2023. This report provides an overview of the second PuppetPlays project conference that explores authorship and what constitutes a play script in a broad range of historical and contemporary puppetry. The review includes a link to the conference page that has videos of all conference sessions in French, Italian and English as well as links to artist pages. Alissa Mello, PhD, is Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Exeter …
WORKSHOP REPORT: Wayang Workshop
Wayang Workshop: Balimodule, Denpasar, Bali, May 2-7, 2023, UNIMA-USA and University of California, Santa Cruz A workshop in Denpasar in May 2023 by I Nyoman Sedana and I Made Georgiana Triwinadi introduced foreign theatre practitioners to Balinese wayang kulit. Instruction focused on four character types and culminated in a performance based upon Arjuna’s Meditation. The workshop included visits to noted Balinese dalangs (puppet masters) at their sanggars (home studios) and performances of topeng, kecak, and trance dance enacted within temple contexts. Karen Smith is a recent President of UNIMA-USA. As a member of UNIMA International’s Executive Committee, she has been …
Revitalizing Wayang Puppetry through Creative Lighting
Lighting is a very important element in wayang kulit (shadow puppetry). The use of modern lighting effects in wayang sometimes can actually weaken the appearance of the puppets because they are overshadowed by the glitter. The identity of Balinese wayang, with its aesthetic and symbolic values, demands lighting of a high capacity to illuminate, according to the form of the puppets, in a heightened style, creating a dramatic atmosphere via scenery or background in order to accommodate the shift in contemporary puppet audiences who tend toward realism.
Tutur Candra Bherawa: A New Balinese Theatre Work
I Gusti Putu Sudarta and I Gusti Made Darma Putra Pakeliran Tutur Candra Bherawa (Performance of the Teachings of Candra Bherawa), produced in April 2022 in Denpasar, Bali, was a total theatre performance exploring traditional theatre using song in storytelling. The melodies and vocals were not confined to Balinese and Javanese traditions but borrowed from South Asia’s Sufi qawwali and other spiritual song sources. The form was presented in the Balinese sangita (sung drama) form, which combined singing, instrumental music, puppetry, and dance. I Gusti Putu Sudarta has trained as a musician, composer, dancer, and dalang from his childhood in …
