CHAPTER IX

Training Your Puppeteers

The stage is set. The play has been chosen. The puppets are ready. Let us gather around the table to talk about our parts. There should be a copy of the play in the hands of each puppeteer. Begin by reading the play, each pupil reading the part that he has chosen. After the reading, discuss and analyze each character, his appearance, his disposition, and his voice.

For instance, Captain Peggoty in _The Childhood of David Copperfield_ would have a rough-and-ready seaman’s voice that would boom from his deep chest, but his words would show generosity and kindness. Alice, in _Alice in Wonderland_ would have a little girl’s voice, one that would suggest wonderment, sometimes impatience, and a quaint dignity when she tried to appear grown up. The White Rabbit’s voice would be high, nervous, and impatient. The Caterpillar would have a slow, full, dignified voice, while the voice of the Duchess would be gruff and peppery. Deacon Bowman, the faithful old servant in _Men of Iron_, would have the trembling, wavering voice of extreme old age.

How shall the right person be found for each part? One of the most satisfactory ways is that of trying out for parts, with the group acting as a jury. The judges must keep in mind that the voice is very important in interpreting character and they will do well to choose the voice that is best suited to the character. If each puppeteer takes the same position at the table at each rehearsal, you will soon associate each voice with a certain place. This will make it much easier to address your lines to the proper character. The lines should be reread slowly for the sake of better understanding. In this way, each in turn soon comes to read the lines of his character with real appreciation. Do not hurry over the little words. Every word should be clearly spoken. Lift your eyes as often as you can from your manuscript. “Talk” your lines. In almost no time you will know your lines without looking at them. When you can speak your lines so naturally that any of your friends, with his eyes closed, could imagine the character you are interpreting from your voice, you are ready to take your puppet in hand.

Manipulation of your marionette is the second step in your training as a puppeteer. You will be surprised at the amount of time this requires. Some of the greatest puppeteers have spent months learning to manage a single puppet. In all your practice work, avoid careless motions of your hands, with your thoughts elsewhere. Be wholly absorbed in what you wish to do.

Your puppet in the making has been so weighted that when you hold your controller you will know the very second the puppet’s feet touch the floor. This delicate position must be held. Hold your controller steady. If you lower your controller after the feet have touched the floor your puppet will sag. Behold the sagging puppet! Begin gently. Do not jerk the strings. The least motion of the hand brings a quick response from the puppet. In fact, puppets are just like ourselves, if handled skilfully they will do almost anything you may wish them to do. As your skill grows so will your pleasure in your puppet grow. Its many almost human movements and gestures will delight you as they have delighted all those men and women who have been its friends. If you can hold your marionette before a mirror and practise with it, speaking your lines, as you pull the strings, you will be surprised to see how lifelike it becomes. You will discover that a slight movement may indicate very strong feeling.

A whole chapter could be written about the movements of the head. Let us see how the head may show thoughtfulness. When you are thoughtful, how do you hold your head? Release the head strings and your puppet’s head will drop forward as yours has just done. If you wish to turn this thoughtful pose into one of discouragement, let the shoulders droop forward as well, so that the chest becomes hollow. How would you stand if listening? Release the head strings and slant the controller so that the head falls a little to one side and a little forward. How near to this and yet how different is the attitude of craftiness and cunning. To the listening pose you simply add a forward thrust of the head and a hunching up of the shoulders. For the proud, erect bearing of a king, hold your controller horizontally. If your puppet is a charming young lady, her head will make many quick, graceful little turns. This may be done by releasing the head strings and tipping the controller back and forth.

We now come to the movements of the shoulders and the waist. The center string controls the movements of the waist and is used whenever you want your puppet to sit down, kneel down, or bow. As you know there are a hundred different ways of sitting down. The young and old, each has his way. So, too, have the proud and the humble, the gentle and the boisterous. When you make your puppet sit down, unless he is very stiff and proud, let his body settle a little. You will notice that most people do this. When you pull the center string you must at the same time lower the controller slightly to keep the feet from swinging off the floor.

There are quite as many ways of bowing as there are of sitting down. A courtier would bow from the waist, his head slightly bent; the little princess, in her full skirts, would courtesy gracefully with her head tilted backward.

Next, we come to that small but important thing, the hand. When one knows how to control it, it can do such wonderful things. It can show force or gentleness, harshness or kindness, nervous excitement or shaky old age. It is possible for a marionette to draw a sword, practise at the pells, engage in fist fights, and hammer at a forge. When a marionette must hammer at a forge, as in _Sigurd, the Volsung_, and in _Men of Iron_, be sure that it makes a heavy, steady stroke. The hammer must be of iron. If the armorer sings a jolly rhythmic song, he can keep time with his hammer. Suit your gestures to your words. It is the fault of inexperienced puppeteers that they make all gestures alike. Experienced puppeteers suit their gestures to the ideas and to the feelings which they wish to convey.

It is when a puppet is called upon to do some unusual thing, such as dancing, climbing a wall, fighting a duel, riding a horse in a tournament, that difficulties appear.

Let us take the first of these—dancing. The Bear in _Men of Iron_ danced. Dainty little Lady Alice in _Men of Iron_ danced. Fat jolly Tweedle Dee in _Alice in Wonderland_ danced. The surly old cook in the Duchess’s kitchen danced. But imagine the differences in these dances! Each dance expressed the character of the dancer. The Bear danced to a lively jig whistled by his trainer. His steps were carefully worked out in time with the tune, and when once learned were never varied. Little Lady Alice, with dainty step and charming courtesies, danced to the tune of a medieval love song. Tweedle Dee danced to a rollicking tune played on an accordion. His steps were lively and when he danced across the stage on his right foot, kicking out his left in time with the music, he made everyone laugh. The cook’s dance was an Irish jig.

Puppets are versatile. To them belongs not only the interpretation of the spoken word but they are equally at home in the world of pantomime, music, and dance.

The illustrations in this book show how puppets can even perform a ballet. Here you can see their interpretation of the colorful and dramatic Russian ballet, _Petrouchka_. The cast of twenty-one puppets included four principal actors, the manager, the Moor, the Ballerina, and Petrouchka and besides these, a showman and a trained bear, an organ grinder, and bands of gypsies.

A ballet or an opera will naturally require a different procedure than a play, because the character analysis comes from the music. Here are the steps by which the _Petrouchka Ballet_ was worked out:

1. The story was told to the pupils.

2. The musical score as a whole was played to them.

3. The motif for each character and incident was played to them.

4. The musical score as a whole was again played and the pupils listened for the motifs.

5. Each character was analyzed and his probable actions upon the stage were discussed.

6. The puppet was taken in hand and the interpretation of the music with it was begun.

There are four scenes in this ballet. The first scene is a street fair in a Russian village. A little theater occupies the center back stage in which the stage manager exhibits the Moor, the Ballerina, and Petrouchka. The scene closes with their lively dance and Petrouchka’s declaration of love to the Ballerina.