Where Did Marionettes Originate?


Katputli is a puppet theater that originated in Rajasthan, India and is the most popular form of Indian puppetry. As a puppet on a string, she is guided by a single wire that runs from the top of the puppet above the puppeteers. A rope puppet, or puppet, is a figure with many joints suspended from a controller by a rope.

Puppets have an ancient origin, and nobody knows their original source. Ancient dolls have been found in India, Greece, and Egypt. However, the marionettes that are commonly used today first appeared in either Italy or France, and they were used to reenact scenes from epic poetry.

Odisha is perhaps the only state in the country where four forms of puppetry flourish: shadow theater; reed dolls, when wooden dolls are lifted onto the stage with a metal rod attached to their body and covering their flowing garments; gloved puppets or Sakhi Kandhei Nata, where the puppets are made of gloves, with the index finger becoming the head and the middle finger and the thumb the puppet’s hands; and, finally, the puppet theater, where the puppets are made to dance by means of strings attached to their limbs.

Odisha is perhaps the only state in the country where four forms of puppetry flourish: shadow theater; reed dolls, when wooden dolls are lifted onto the stage with a metal rod attached to their body and covering their flowing garments; gloved puppets or Sakhi Kandhei Nata, where the puppets are made up of gloves, with the index finger becoming the head and the middle finger and thumb.

What Traditional Puppets Are Made Of

The puppets are made of animal skin and hold a thin stick in one hand. The puppeteer uses a hand inserted into the sock to animate the puppet and make it move and “talk.” The puppet’s movements are controlled by hands, sticks or wire. Rather than relying on actors as characters, puppets revolve around the use of puppets, objects controlled by humans called puppeteers.

Puppet theater is a form of theater or performance in which puppets are manipulated – inanimate objects often resembling a human or animal figure that are animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. A puppet is a type of puppet that was used in puppets, a very ancient form of theater. Toy theater is a special form of dolls and marionettes, where dolls are made of paper attached to paper.

Ball-jointed dolls have been found in Egyptian tombs controlled by threads of clay and ivory. From ancient Greece to dolls, dolls took all sorts of forms and entertained all walks of life. There were famous puppets like Punch and Kermit, and many others whose names have been lost in history. Some of the earliest surviving puppets come from Ancient Greece and Rome.

These articulated clay sculptures were found in children’s graves and appear to be used as toys. The original puppets may be nothing more than simple puppets made from various materials found on the ground or elsewhere. Early puppet modeling and modeling are undoubtedly simple, but the puppet show performance is loud and public.

The History of Puppets Around the World

For centuries, dolls have appeared in cultures around the world. During the 14th-16th centuries, various forms of mechanical puppet theater developed, in which these scenes were presented, originally shown in church spaces.

The first puppets – puppets controlled from above with strings – began to appear here in the mid-17th century, shortly after they spread to Italy and, via Italian puppeteers, to England. In 1770, a troupe of puppets, or Italian puppets, introduced London to a new wave of European puppet theater.

In the 18th century, puppet shows were very popular, in which the works of famous composers were performed. Shakespeare also mentioned puppets, and in the 17th century Italian companies of puppeteers traveled to Britain playing fairs and markets, probably using puppets that were propelled from above with ropes or rods.

In medieval France, puppets were often used to represent events in the Bible, and the Virgin Mary was a popular character, hence the name. In addition, one of the first figures to become a puppet is the Virgin Mary.

It is believed that the first dolls were created in India, possibly as early as 1000 BC. Many forms of puppetry have only been introduced to India in the last century. Dolls are believed to be thousands of years old in India, and ancient scriptures, songs and folk tales refer to the dolls.

Puppet theater has been known since ancient Greece and there are written documents that mention a puppet theater dating back to the 5th century BC. The puppet theater is a very old form of theater, first appearing in the 5th century BC. in Ancient Greece.

In ancient Greece, historians of the 5th century BC Herodotus and Xenophon mention puppets in their works. Charles Magnen (1793-1862), the first historian of puppet theater, argues in his Histoire des Marionnettes (History of the Puppet, 1852, new version 1862) that puppets evolved from ancient idols and therefore appeared in the context of ceremonies and in terms of customs. religiosity.

However, the root origin of the theory of puppets does not answer another question about the birth of puppetry. Western theater combines participation and perception, and some plays are closer to certain ancient forms that can also be seen in certain types of shadow and puppet theater in Asia. After all, itinerant puppeteers were active in this country until the 1950s, the activities of amateur puppeteers span all three phases, and the same goes for professional forms of puppetry.

The Amateur Puppet Movement

The amateur puppet movement, widespread in the first half of the twentieth century, is also highly respected and, after a period of popular puppeteers in the nineteenth century, constitutes the second critical phase in the history of the development of Czech puppetry. In the 1920s and 1930s, the gloved puppeteer art that flourished in the Middle Ages was revived by puppeteer Walter Wilkinson, whose Peep Show showcased the dramatic possibilities of puppetry outside of Punch and Judy.

Created for television in the 1980s by Peter Flach and Roger Lowe, Spitting Image dolls revived the 18th century satirical puppetry tradition at a time when many pioneering British traveling puppet companies and theater companies such as Forkbeard Fantasy were founded. They started using puppets. in their work.

The London Puppet Theater was also the first to broadcast puppets on television. The London Puppet Theater was the first to broadcast puppet shows on television in 1933. In the 19th century, low-budget traveling shows again became the most common form of puppet entertainment. These were mainly professional acting companies (one branch from England, Holland, and then, in particular from Germany, another branch from Italy and Austria), which also introduced puppets here as a completely new type of puppet.

They were instrumental in the post-war revival of puppets, founding the London Puppet Theater in Stamford Brook and developing new ways to control and balance the puppets. In the 17th century, puppeteers in Britain borrowed the look of the Italian commedia dell’arte to create Punch and Judy, a farcical show revolving around the comic and violent antics of a married couple. Although Punch (adapted from the comedy del arte character Pulcinella) and Judy were originally puppets, the string figures were later replaced by hand puppets to better match their aggressive movements without fear of confusion.

Dmitri Oz

Hello, I'm Dmitri. I grew up around carnival workers, and I created Performer Palace to generate interest in circus skills and the performing arts.

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