Avenue Q: The Origin of Puppetry Part 2

Masked Theatre: A mask hides part or all of the face. ... Commedia dell'arte, a traditional Italian form of physical comedy, uses masks and often they appear in Elizabethan and Restoration comedies, where a character might use one as disguise. In Greek theatre the actors all wore exaggerated masks to communicate character.

In my opinion puppets prove to me most effective and appealing to children, properly between the age of 6 months - 7 yrs old because that are at that age where there minds can be entertained by puppets and even when they are old enough to understand puppets and how they work they still grasp the playful imaginative side to things. In comparison to adults where our brains switch off if it has no relevance to things that appear in our lives.Puppetry is viewed as an ideal vehicle for presenting moral messages about childhood concepts such as bullying. Puppets are also used in play therapy as a safe way for traumatized children to explore their fears.

Types Of Puppets:

A human arm puppet or two-man puppet is the larger puppet controlled by two puppeteers (one for the head and mouth, another for the arms.

 A marotte is a simple puppet featuring only a head or body that is placed on a stick, with some examples featuring one moving arm or a mouth that can open.

Body puppets, also known as carnival puppets, are very large puppets that are used for street spectacles or large-scale theater, such as the live production of “The Lion King.”

Two unusual types of puppetry use bunraku puppets and shadow puppets. Based in Japan, bunraku puppetry is performed with a nearly life-sized wooden puppet that is illuminated with focused light. The puppeteers dress in dark colors but can be indistinctly seen by the audience, lending a shadowy presence to the production. In shadow puppetry, the puppeteer is not seen. Instead, a silhouetted figure is illuminated with a light source, producing shadows that are viewed by the audience.