Puppetry: is it just for kids?
So yesterday I’m going through my web stats and about 50% of hits to this site is from people looking for info on making puppets with children. While I appreciate that puppetry for and by kids is not only a good craft for learning, experimentation, imagination, and whatever else you can think of, there is a myth that puppetry is only for kids and can’t be enjoyed by adults. You have no idea how wrong you could be.
There’s plenty of fantastic puppetry shows that can be enjoyed by adults and children alike, much like the Pixar movies or Shrek. There’s adult humour without making it kid unfriendly; an example is Richard Bradshaw’s shadow puppetry, where the humour can be visual as well as vocal. But there’s also a genre of puppetry that is more like adult drama (it should be noted that I’m using the term ‘adult’ in the sense of PG or M ratings, but not anything ‘adult’ in the sense that it is R rated), which, while could be enjoyed by children, has themes and concepts which would be better viewed by people over a certain age. For instance, Ronnie Burkett’s performances often deal with issues of loneliness, humanity, death, etc. His play Tinka’s New Dress dealt with an oppressive society where artists were sent into concentration camps and where art exists only in an underground world. Although the puppets no doubt could be enjoyed by children, the content of the play is hardly suitable for a ten year old.
From there, yes, there are certain puppetry groups that produce more R rated content. Avenue Q is one such example, as well as many Henson company productions which are designed for an adult audience. Puppetry and burlesque seem to go hand in hand for some people, and so this is a popular subculture of puppetry.
Perhaps the myth of puppets for children exists because the only time adults are confronted with puppetry is either: through their children’s school (ie. attending touring performances or chaperoning trips to the local theatre); through school holiday activities; or through the ever-pervasive Sesame St or The Muppets. Speaking from a local experience, most people in Melbourne may only consider puppetry during the popular Fringe Festival; and therefore, consider puppetry itself a fringe experience, rather than part of the mainstream theatre industry. But really, if people just got outside their own preconceptions about puppetry, I think they would find a lot of wonderful performances for adults.
… Basically, this is also my way of saying that this site isn’t designed for the parent/teacher and child. There’s a lot of stuff here that can be used for children’s puppetry: but I’ve always wanted to do and keep doing puppetry for adults that isn’t R rated (heck, it’s even said on the About page), and so I hope that this site will encourage adults to also do or seek out puppetry for them. Just because your kid watches The Muppets doesn’t mean you can’t find enjoyment in the humour, action, subtlety, subtext, design, or anything else of other puppet shows or events. Take a risk; it’s worth it. [Should I also add a list of reasons why adults can enjoy puppetry? If yes, then leave a comment… I’ll update the post]
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