Memory of How Puppets Function

Jurkowski, Henryk
Aspects of Puppet Theatre: A Collection of Essays
London: Puppet Centre Trust, 1988

One of the unique and challenging goals that I encounter as a Lincoln Center Institute teaching artist is creating lessons for each class with whom I work. Because LCI teaching artists partner with classroom teachers to plan an arts-focused curriculum that will suit the students in each particular school, TAs in the field face this challenge over and over again. Every now and then, I come across a resource that readily sparks ideas about potential activities that the teachers or I might be able to facilitate with students as we explore a specific puppetry work of art, such as The Man Who Planted Trees by the Puppet State Theatre Company (part of LCI’s 2009-2010 theater repertory). In Aspects of Puppet Theatre: A Collection of Essays, Jurkowski sets off these sparks by exploring puppetry through the unique lens of function. Part of the excitement of the book also comes from his clear passion for the art form.

In approaching the book I was immediately struck by the fact that this resource does not have very many photographs or illustrations. Because it is a book of puppetry, I was expecting the kind of “bells and whistles” one might expected when reading about such an excitingly visual and animated art form. After I read the forward and the first chapter, however, I understood that Jurkowski intentionally moves away from visual aspects of the subject to create a more “serious” tone fitting the seriousness of the complex ideas he explores.

Jurkowski begins the book with an examination of existing theory and scholarship that he sees as related to the theatrical art of puppetry. This grounds the reader and provides a vantage point from which to launch discussion of his own ideas. By considering theater history as it relates to the evolution of puppetry, Jurkowski is able to explore the different ways that puppets have functioned over time vis-à-vis both theatrical practice of the era and social history. I found particular interest in reading about how an art form that initially grew out of ritual faced accusations of sacrilege during particularly religious eras in the history of Western civilization.

Jurkowski presents and riffs off the ideas of Gordon Craig, who challenged the notion of acting in his time. He felt that actors brought too much of their ego to the process (thus detracting from the character) and that separation of the puppet from the puppeteer allowed a greater focus on the character and story. This idea of separation between the presenter and the presentation is interesting to think about in relation to activities appropriate to a shy child or any group of children who have difficulty expressing themselves.

In the chapter “Towards a Theatre of Objects,” I especially liked learning about practices that involve the animation of ordinary objects as puppets, imbuing them with personality. Since we are living in an era of reduced resources, classroom teachers and teaching artists might choose to explore this concept with students who might be studying a puppetry work of art, selecting ordinary objects that might contribute to the telling of a story.

I also found the chapter titled “Between Literature and Plastic Art” to be of great interest, because here Jurkowski explores the idea of the puppet as a still object or one with very little movement, where the environment around the puppet is transformed to enact the story. In a sense, the narrative circulates around the puppet-object. This could be another interesting idea to explore with a group of young people who are focusing on narrativity—in a work of art from any discipline.

Aspects of Puppet Theatre considers the functionality of puppets over time with a concentrated view on modern evolution and use. It is a valuable resource for puppeteers, theater practitioners, and anyone interested in looking at theater history through a puppetry lens. The book is comprised of series of essays, making it easy to read in segments. Also, because it is not a cumulative read, it makes it possible to gravitate to sections that are of most interest.

Aspects of Puppet Theatre helped me clarify and process my own ideas about the animation of inanimate figures as elements for telling a story. It also got me excited about the various ways that puppets can be created and utilized in the classroom, whether within an aesthetic education unit of study (a là LCI), or within another arts-in-education model.

Henryk Jurkowski is one of a small but growing number of scholars of puppet theater. He has served as senior lecturer in the theory and history of puppets for the Institute International de la Marionnette, in Charleville-Mézières, France. He teaches and lectures for institutions in his native Warsaw, as well as in Germany, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, and Norway. He has published several books and articles on puppets and his works have been translated into several languages.

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