Puppetry and Theatre History

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Subject guarantor

Name of lecturer(s)

Learning outcomes of the course unit

Students will learn about theatre history and the history and development of puppetry from the pre-theatrical age to nowadays.

Mode of study

Lecture with multimedia presentation

Prerequisites and co-requisites

None

Course contents

Students will learn about theatre history and the history and development of puppetry from the pre-theatrical age to nowadays. The course will start with discussing puppetry with magical background as one of the roots of puppetry and theatre. After that students will learn about the development of mythical puppetry – the most important form of Far-

Eastern theatre. The discussion of mime puppetry leads to the history of puppetry in Europe, including the puppetry of Hellenism and the puppetry techniques of the Middle East. When talking about the development of European puppetry, focus will be given to categorization based on genres rather than chronology. We make a distinction between fairground

and family puppetry and puppetry at aristocratic castle theatres. With the former, we will concentrate on the survival of commedia dell’arte in puppetry, while with the latter we discuss the characteristics of romanticism and puppetry adaptations in musical theatre (especially opera). The history of puppetry has a turning point at the turn of the XIX- XX.

century, as puppetry became one of the emblematic phenomena of the avant-garde.

Recommended or required reading

Baird, Bill: Art of the Puppet, New York, 1965.

Beaumont, C.: Puppets and Puppetry. New York, 1965.

Bleckham, O.: Shadow Puppets, London, 1960.

Craig, Edward Gordon: Puppet and Poets, London, 1921.

Craig, Edward Gordon: The Actor and the Über-marionett. The Mask, I.II. 1908 April

Craig, Edward Gordon: Index to the Story of My Days, London, 1957.

Brook, Peter: The Empty Space, New York, 1969.

Bunraku. The Short History of Bunraku. Osaka, 1933.

Efimova, N.: Adventures of a Rusian Puppet Theatre. Birmingham, 1935.

Jurkowski, Henryk: A History of European Puppetry I-II-III. Lewinston, 1996-98.

Jurkowski, Henryk: Theatre Masks in Polish Theatre. Interscena 69.

Kleist, Heinrich von: On the Marionett Theatre. Ada.evergreen.edu for arune/text/literature/kleist/kleist.pdf

Mrázek, Jan (ed): Puppet Theater in Contemporary Indonesia. University of Michigan, 2002. Pellowski, Anne: The

World of Storytelling. New York, 1990.

Philpott, A.R.: Dictionary of Puppetry. London, 1969.

McPharlin, P.: The Puppet Theatre in America. New York, 1949.

Ridgeway, W.: The Dramas and Dramatic Dances of Non-European Races. Cambridge, 1915. Speaight, George: Punch

and Judy. A History. London, 1970.

Ridgeway, W.: The History of the English Puppet Theatre, London, 1990.

Tillis, Steve: Towards an Aesthetics of the Puppet. New York, 1992.

Vatsyayan, Kapila: Traditional Indian Theatre. Multiple Streams. New Delhi, 1980.

Waszkiel, Marek (ed.): Present Trend in Research of the World Puppetry. Varsó, 1992.

Assessment methods and criteria

Oral exam

Further information

No schedule has been prepared for this course

The subject is a part of the following study plans