Indian Puppetry and Puppet Stories


Book Description

Puppetry is a highly developed, ancient art form in India. Part one of this book contains a short history of puppetry and information on various aspects of the production of puppet plays. Part two contains 32 puppet stories that include form of puppet, set and dialogue suggestions.




Indian Puppets


Book Description

Puppetry Originated In India And Travelled Across The Seven Seas To The Eastern And Western World As Vouched By Many Scholars. Puppets Dated Back To A Period Well Before Bharata S Natya Shastra And Have Continued Unabated Throughout The Centuries In Almost All Indian States. Puppetry Is One Enduring Form, Which Has Entertained Masses And Educated People. The Famous Puppeteers Of Rajasthan Are Really Acrobats, Who Only Put On Puppet Shows When They Move Out Of Villages. These And A Thousand Other Scintillating Facts Come Out Of This Exciting Book For The Reader S Entertainment And Elucidation. Puppets Are By No Means For Only Children, -- As The Puppeteers Of Orissa Sing And Dance About The Romantic Love Of Radha And Krishna, And Keralan Puppets Narrate Kathakali Stories In The Same Make-Up And Costumes.The Book Aims At Giving A Connected Account Of The Indian Puppets: Their Variety, Their Multiple Functions, Their Craft, Their Animation And Their Connections With Other Related Arts In Five Separate Parts. The Book Also Contains For The First Time In Any Book On Puppetry -- Four Important Appendices: Museums In India Containing Puppets, Directory Of Indian Puppeteers, Global Bibliography On Puppets And A Relevant Glossary. The World Of Indian Puppets Is Seen In Vivid Colours With Scores Of Coloured Photographs And Many Line-Drawings And Half-Tone Pictures --- In Their Many-Sided Splendour: Variety Of The Glove, Rod, String, Shadow, And Human Puppets And A Myriad Background Stories Of The Puppet-Masters And Their Imaginative Landscape Of Free Creativity.




Bodies of Enchantment


Book Description

Puppeteers have enthralled audiences for millennia with their unique charm, not just telling stories but enacting history, sharing knowledge, and preserving culture. In this dazzling and immersive volume based on the 2019 exhibition Shadows, Strings and Other Things (UBC Museum of Anthropology), puppets from all corners of the globe are resplendent in striking photographs that illustrate texts from ten scholars and puppeteers. Bodies of Enchantment highlights still-vital traditional puppetry practices, as well as examples of modern adaptations of the form: translucent leather shadow puppets depict ancient Indian epics in modern-day Indonesia; Taiwan's long-running Pili glove puppetry show thrives in the digital era; and Indigenous filmmaker Amanda Strong uses stop-motion animation to create entrancing new realms. Bodies of Enchantment: Puppets from Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas features over 150 full-color images, and chapters by nine additional contributors: Anthony Alan Shelton revels at the alluring uncanniness of puppets; Annie Katsura Rollins explores Chinese shadow puppetry; Sutrisno Setya Hartana introduces us to Indonesian wayang; Jo Ann Cavallo unpacks the archetypes of Sicilian opera dei pupi; Mary Jo Arnoldi encounters the Sogobò masquerade in Malí; Izabela Brochado shows the continued vibrancy of mamulengo in Brazil; Kathy Foley and Catherine Ries uncover the significance of clothing in Javanese wayang golak cepak; and Jill Baird shares the history of puppetry at the Museum of Anthropology.




Inside the Drama-House


Book Description

The author describes the skill and physical stamina of the shadow puppeteers in Kerala state in South India as they perform the Tamil version of the Ramayana epic all night for as many as ten weeks during the festival season. The fact that these performances often take place without an audience forms the starting point for Blackburn's discussion which also explores the broader theoretical issues of text, interpretation, and audience.




The Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance


Book Description

The Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance offers a wide-ranging perspective on how scholars and artists are currently re-evaluating the theoretical, historical, and theatrical significance of performance that embraces the agency of inanimate objects. This book proposes a collaborative, responsive model for broader artistic engagement in and with the material world. Its 28 chapters aim to advance the study of the puppet not only as a theatrical object but also as a vibrant artistic and scholarly discipline. This Companion looks at puppetry and material performance from six perspectives: theoretical approaches to the puppet, perspectives from practitioners, revisiting history, negotiating tradition, material performances in contemporary theatre, and hybrid forms. Its wide range of topics, which span 15 countries over five continents, encompasses: • visual dramaturgy • theatrical juxtapositions of robots and humans • contemporary transformations of Indonesian wayang kulit • Japanese ritual body substitutes • recent European productions featuring toys, clay, and food. The book features newly commissioned essays by leading scholars such as Matthew Isaac Cohen, Kathy Foley, Jane Marie Law, Eleanor Margolies, Cody Poulton, and Jane Taylor. It also celebrates the vital link between puppetry as a discipline and as a creative practice with chapters by active practitioners, including Handspring Puppet Company’s Basil Jones, Redmoon’s Jim Lasko, and Bread and Puppet’s Peter Schumann. Fully illustrated with more than 60 images, this volume comprises the most expansive English-language collection of international puppetry scholarship to date.




Routledge Handbook of Asian Theatre


Book Description

Routledge Handbook of Asian Theatre is an advanced level reference guide which surveys the rich and diverse traditions of classical and contemporary performing arts in Asia, showcasing significant scholarship in recent years. An international team of over 50 contributors provide authoritative overviews on a variety of topics across Asia, including dance, music, puppetry, make-up and costume, architecture, colonialism, modernity, gender, musicals, and intercultural Shakespeare. This volume is divided into four sections covering: Representative Theatrical Traditions in Asia. Cross-Regional Aspects of Classical and Folk Theatres. Modern and Contemporary Theatres in Asian Countries. Modernity, Gender Performance, Intercultural and Musical Theatre in Asia. Offering a cutting edge overview of Asian theatre and performance, the Handbook is an invaluable resource for academics, researchers and students studying this ever-evolving field.




Tolpava Koothu


Book Description

A form of traditional puppetry from Kerala, Tolpava Koothu--originating in the Bhagavati temples of Palghat district--presents the Ramayana story as told by Kambar, the Tamil epic poet, in the kamba Ramayana. In 21 parts, over 21 evenings, the story is enacted in koothumadmas or temple theatres before eager local audience. Part ritual, part instruction, and a form of entertainment inseparable from rural life in Kerala, Tolpava Koothu is an art demanding knowledge of the scriptures together with skill in delivery, diction, and puppet manipulation. This monograph provides a basic introduction to the Tolpava Koothu--setting out its cultural background, associated rituals, as well as specifics of stage, illumination, music, puppets and their manipulation, a day-wise synopsis of the story as presented in 21 parts, select scenes from Tolpava Koothu, lists of puppets and temples where the art is practiced help to bring alive the subject to the reader




Practical Puppetry A-Z


Book Description

Puppetry is an exciting, flexible, malleable art form that can engage the creative forces of children or adults. Puppets can not only tell a story, they can be used to enhance the curriculum, present an idea or a concept in a compelling way, or teach any number of necessary skills. Children and adults presenting a puppet play are given a sense of their own inventive power. This reference work offers an A to Z view of working with puppets. It covers everything from the basic strategies of advertising and marketing puppet productions, to assembling the puppets out of household materials such as paper bags, cereal boxes, or gloves, to the more elaborate sculpting of armatures. Stages, curtains and props are also discussed along with the history of puppetry. Numerous illustrations give a visual of many of the finished products. This work concludes with an annotated bibliography and index.




Reading the Puppet Stage


Book Description

Drawing on the author’s two decades of seeing, writing on, and teaching about puppetry from a critical perspective, this book offers a collection of insights into how we watch, understand, and appreciate puppetry. Reading the Puppet Stage uses examples from a broad range of puppetry genres, from Broadway shows and the Muppets to the rich field of international contemporary performing object experimentation to the wealth of Asian puppet traditions, as it illustrates the ways performing objects can create and structure meaning and the dramaturgical interplay between puppets, performers, and language onstage. An introductory approach for students, critics, and artists, this book underlines where significant artistic concerns lie in puppetry and outlines the supportive networks and resources that shape the community of those who make, watch, and love this ever-developing art.




Indian Art & Culture Book in English - Dr. Manish Rannjan (IAS)


Book Description

The presented book 'Indian Art & Culture' is extremely beneficial for the candidates preparing for the Preliminary and Mains Examination of Civil and State Services. The entire subject matter of the book is divided into 3 sections: Indian Art, Indian Culture and Indian Heritage. Each section has been discussed in detail in various chapters of the book. It is even more important for the aspirants because the book includes the diverse forms of Indian Art, Culture and Heritage, such as paintings and handicrafts, architecture, drama, dance, music, sculpture, architecture, inscriptions, festivals, heritage sites declared by UNESCO, language, literature, education, religion and philosophy etc. and their historical development since the time of their inception till now. This book is presented in a critical form with authentic facts and updated data keeping in view the latest developments in the field of art & culture. Four appendices have also been given at the end of the book in which examination related material pertaining to art and culture has been incorporated.