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How Can I Make My Puppet Look More Lifelike? Part 3

In the last two posts I’ve talked about the number one goal you should have when working a puppet: to make the puppet look as lifelike as possible. The first way we focused on was entrances and exits.

The second way is to maintain proper positioning while on stage. When two puppets are talking to each other, they should face each other and look at each other. It seems obvious but doesn’t always work out that way.

The ideal is to have the puppeteer on the left side of the stage use their left arm and the puppeteer on the right side to use their right arm.  That way the puppets naturally face each other and are lined up. (That’s why it is important to develop both left and right handed skills.)

If both puppeteers use the right hand then they need to face each other so the puppets can make eye contact. (If you try to face forward and talk to a puppet on your right, you have to twist your arm which causes it to lean to the side. As your arm gets tired, the lean will become more pronounced.)

When two puppeteers working with their right arms face each other, the puppets won’t line up. The one on the right side will be right next to the theater and the one on the left will be about two feet away from the theater. If they both look straight ahead, they won’t make eye contact.

You can either turn the puppets so they are looking at each other, or have the puppeteers stagger their positions. Have the one on the left side get close to the front and the right sided puppeteer move back from the curtain a foot and a half or so.

If you have three puppets on stage talking together, have the center one face forward and a bit behind the other two. The puppeteer to the left of the center works their puppet with their left hand and the one on the other side uses their right. That way, the two outside puppets are looking at each other and can easily look at the one in the middle. The center one can look at either one of the outside puppets with no difficulty.

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