Creepy & Historical World of British Puppets.
Victoria and Albert Museum has extensive material relation to the history of puppetry in Britain
Romans and Italians have a loooong history of puppets. France had them in the 1300 and it is thought that monks and priests used puppets to spread Bible stories to the masses
- But in Britain, puppets really came on the scene between 1500 to 1700
- Wealthy households got higher quality shows. Travelling shows were more like the Punch and Judy youtube show I’ve posted.
- High pitched voice for punch spoken through a tin cone and wildly inappropriate behavior by Punch.
- Earliest in London
- puppeteers made their living by performing all over the country.
- Most popular were great exchanges of batinado (beatings with a stick) and a very loose plot.
- 1561 the Duchess of Suffolk recorded paying ‘two men who played upon the puppets’
- According to a 17th century poem by Samuel Butler, fireworks were used with puppet plays including the devil to show the dangers of hellfire.
- puppeteers made their living by performing all over the country.
- By the 18th century, puppet shows in London were fashionable adult entertainment.
- In 1710 Martin Powell’s puppets from Dublin opened a theater in London.
- Plays were remade
- Satires of public figures.
- In 1710 Martin Powell’s puppets from Dublin opened a theater in London.
Royale de Luxe – Giant Marionettes
The Giant Marionettes of Royal de Luxe
- Founder and current director, Jean-Luc Courcoult teamed up with some musicians and actors to start his extraordinary open-air theatre show in the French city of Aix-en-Provence.
- Each giant, built with light and flexible poplar wood,
- Controlled on a system of hydraulic pulleys and levers
- By 20 to 40 members of the Royal de Luxe troupe, called Lilliputians.
- Members of the company come from all walks of life, seduced by Courcoult’s wizardry, they are inventors, poets, stuntmen, theatre technicians and scrap-dealers, most of whom move between a technical and performance role.