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Puppet are ancient:
Long years ages perhaps in our very village, men and women must have gathered
time after time to watch puppet-shows. The puppets may have been different from those of today. Their costumes may have been more elegant, too, but the fun and the laughter
must have been the same. There are many echoes from the past that make us sure that puppetry in India is one of the most ancient arts..
Some students of the art of puppetry think that this was the earliest kind of drama developed by man where and many think these artists were our Indian ancestors. However that may be, we at least have evidence of its existence hundreds of years ago. Still the most interesting fact for us is, that even today puppetry is practiced in almost all the countries of the world. It has been weaving itself slowly and permanently into the cultures of all peoples both East and West.
Advantages:
Puppets suit the village:
First, because the material for the puppets, the costumes and the stage can be found in even the poorest village.
Second, because all the world loves to play actor"; so the village people both old and young can find a place in some of the dramas.
Third, because rich and poor, scholar and illiterate, old and young, all love to see the best man win in the play. They all alike laugh in the comedies, and weep in the tragedies and see that the problems of the play to all casters and creeds alike. It takes the edge off their prejudices, therefore.
Puppets, therefore, have unlimited possibilities in the village for:
- Entertainment.
- Education.
- SeIf-expression.
- Social Action.
Puppet Entertain:
In order to hold your audience and keep them from running back to their homes between the acts, the play must have suspense. Listeners must not know how the story will
end; how the problem will be solved. They must be kept wondering about it until the very end. And all the way through the play there should be puns, wit, humour and as much music as the village can produce. In most villages this is considerable.
The high points of the witty passages will be sharpened if the village idiom is used.
bright colours will attract attention and well made puppets, dramatically manipulated, will make the character come alive. The characters should be such that the audience can see themselves in them.
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