A Dip Into the World of Puppets
Something new is pulling the strings in British Theatre...
After years of being pigeon-holed into a children's game of felt and sticks, puppetry is finally being taken seriously in mainstream theatre, creating record-breaking performances and winning international awards.
Puppets have been a device in theatre for centuries. There have been puppet shows produced and performed around the world, in spite of the introduction of film, television and the internet as alternative forms of entertainment. Japan, specifically, has celebrated the use of Bunraku, a traditional form of puppet theatre, since the 17th century.
Now, in the 21st century, British theatre is finally catching up. We are seeing an uptick in the acceptance of puppets in mainstream theatre, catalysed by the iconic production of Michael Morpurgo’s War Horse. Since the play - based on the award-winning novel telling the story of WW1 Cavalry horse Joey - premiered in 2007, there has been an undeniable surge in the use of puppetry in big-name theatres and award-winning performances.
In recent years, productions such as Life of Pi in the West End and My Neighbour Totoro at The Barbican have featured puppets heavily as key characters. Other notable performances include Animal Farm by George Orwell, a production currently touring around the UK, and Angels in America at the National Theatre, famously starring Andrew Garfield as protagonist Prior Walter.
Those involved in the industry and those who regularly spectate have been coming to a realisation that, when done correctly, puppetry can elevate the empathy and emotion in a performance in a way it never had before. A key architect in this change has been the puppetry performance and design company Handspring. They are responsible for War Horse and the majority of successful productions involving puppets since then.
This includes the award-winning Life of Pi.
Seven actors won the Olivier for Best Actor in a Supporting Role in 2022 for their combined efforts portraying the Tiger in Life of Pi. This was the first time in history that multiple actors won in a Best Actor category for playing one character simultaneously.
Artistic Director at the Barbican, Will Gompertz, cited Handspring as a crucial factor in this industry-wide shift: "Handspring are amazing and that’s where it starts.”
He added that it is “their ability to reinvent what puppetry could be as a theatrical device” that really helped push it forwards.
"Simply, they turned a craft into an art"
Going back to where it all started, actor Andrew Keay, who spent 18 months portraying Joey (more specifically, as the horse’s back two legs, a.k.a Joey Hind) in the UK and International Tour of War Horse, spoke about his experience working in such a trend-setting performance.
He said: “From the beginning they looked at Joey as the main character of that play, so you need actors who are used to relating feelings and emotions into something. It’s not just moving props or a bit of set around; it’s a fully formed character that you research through the process and work on. Every moment you're thinking about why is this character doing this, and the motives for his actions in the play.”
Keay went on to explain some of the thinking behind creating the puppet that would become Joey on stage every night.
He said: “In each production I have done, there is a two week rehearsal period for the puppeteers before any of the other actors join. So, you spend two weeks of intense puppetry rehearsals getting to know the puppets, but also deeply researching horses and the characters.”
Puppeteers such as Finn Caldwell, who was the Handspring member that curated this production, put a significant amount of effort into constructing how the puppet will look and move on stage.
Keay explained: “The lung span of a horse is three times that of a human, so I think when they found out little details like that they thought: ‘Ok, if we’re trying to create a real sense of a horse being on stage maybe three people would work’. And the puppeteers make the horse noises and sounds and breathe that into life as well.”
He added: “I played Joey Hind on the first tour, and within that there was the head heart and hind puppeteer. In an ideal world, the head puppeteer is about 5 '10’’ and above, the heart is slightly smaller and the hind puppeteer is probably between 5' 8’’ and 5’10’’, so I fitted that brief being 5' 9'’ ½. Technically, there is an element of having to be the right height to fit inside the puppets that are made, so your body isn’t under too much stress.”
The addition of puppets to a large scale production like this was neither a cheap nor easy one. As Will Gompertz put it: “It just came at a moment where there was a bit of money knocking about.”
Keay said: "Realistically, for a regional theatre, it would cost an entire year's budget to just workshop a piece like War Horse."
Without the resources and time the National Theatre was able to provide, this production would likely have never been made, and this evolution of such a simple theatrical device would have never begun.
Aside from the complicated technical elements, there is an emotional component to a production like this, that can create an incredibly moving and evocative performance.
Will Gompertz made mention of this effect, saying: “What was so amazing about War Horse, I think, was that it was so believable. The way they created expression and empathy from that horse to the audience was extraordinary.”
He added: “People were crying in War Horse and people were gasping in Totoro.”
Such visceral emotion from an audience was previously only associated with reactions to a human actor on stage. The evolution of puppetry changed that.
Gompertz said: “If you look at all those puppets used in the three big productions [War Horse, Life of Pi and My Neighbour Totoro], the puppeteers always ensure they are conveying empathy and sympathy with the puppets so they are metamorphosing that puppet in a way to sucker the audience into believing they have an emotional connection with a bit of wood.”
In terms of the approach to creating such an emotional reaction, Andrew Keay emphasised the importance of the human characters performing with the puppets, not just alongside them.
He said: “I think it needs to be fully immersed in the production. The actors need to be completely involved and understand what it takes to create that and to enhance what is going on with the puppet and puppeteers. Otherwise it’s just two separate entities on stage doing their own thing.”
Gompertz commended the work of actors such as Keay, saying: "You have to manipulate the puppet in such a way that it conveys its emotions, and that's where the real skill comes I think.”
In the years since the success of War Horse, productions such as Angels in America and Life of Pi have continued to progress the theatrical device further and test what puppetry is able to do on stage.
Last year, My Neighbour Totoro broke records when it premiered at the Barbican in London; nominated for an almighty nine Olivier awards, including Best Set Design, it set a new standard for the level of quality expected in mainstream puppet theatre.
When asked what he thought puppetry can bring to a production that nothing else can, Gompertz (who commissioned the play as Artistic Director of the Barbican), said: “Movement. And also, it creates a choreographic dynamic that the actors are able to respond to and connect with.”
He added: “And of course, you can do things that you otherwise couldn’t do; you couldn’t put a horse on stage and have it behave the way you want it to behave.”
Once War Horse had taken the initial leap into trusting a puppet to be their protagonist, it opened up other creative minds in the industry. Stories that were, at one point, only considered possible to recreate on screen, suddenly became a plausible feat.
The majority of recent, successful puppetry productions are re-imaginations of movies; namely Angels in America (depicted above), My Neighbour Totoro and Life of Pi.
Speaking on the trend, Gompertz said: “You can theatrically go to places otherwise would be out of reach and would be the space where you would have to do it on film.”
He added: "Those movies can now be turned into theatrical productions, because of the audience’s acceptance of puppetry as part of the illusion of theatre.”
No longer are the special effects required to create animals on screen limited to cinema. As a direct result of the acceptance of puppetry in mainstream theatre, the possibilities of what a stage performance can do has expanded tremendously.
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As all different types of puppetry productions continue to grow and flourish, it is important to remember the true extent to which it has evolved.
Even in the last two decades, those within the industry (actors, directors, puppeteers, etc.) have witnessed the change before their eyes.
Andrew Keay tells the story of his friend and colleague Matt Forbes, one of the puppeteers who won the Olivier for portraying the Tiger in Life of Pi, texting him after the win.
He said: “We were talking about how Joey should have won the award 15 years ago. I think it took theatre that long to say ‘It’s ok for us to give an award to a team of people or a character on stage that’s not a human’.”
One of the most iconic figures in British Theatre, if not theatre around the world, is William Shakespeare. He wrote plays that are remembered and performed to this very day, with entire theatre companies dedicated to his works.
When his production of Henry V was first performed in the Spring of 1599 at The Globe Theatre, something very crucial was missing from the performance.
Will Gompertz explained the issue Shakespeare was dealing with: ““There is this battle scene in Henry V and he [Shakespeare] said ‘You will have to imagine the horses and the hooves and the battle because I cannot show that’. And here we are, 420 years later, and with War Horse showing a battle scene doing exactly that.”
“What Shakespeare couldn't imagine possible in 1600s, became possible in the 2000s”
The leaps and bounds puppetry has made in the past decade are astounding, permanently and fundamentally changing what is possible to create on stage.
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