Let us suppose that you are sitting in the audience and saw two puppets standing like this: “Oh, how stupid,” you would say. Imagine them standing like this:

“How interesting.” But why interesting? The first spacing was equal, hence it was monotonous. The second was varied, therefore, more interesting. Again you are sitting in the audience looking at the picture and this is what you see:

Two small figures on one side and one large figure on the other side. How satisfying! The reason is balance. You can see by these two simple illustrations how necessary it is to keep in mind not only the movements of your puppets, but the positions of all the puppets on the stage. If each puppeteer understands this and considers the relation of his puppet to every other puppet, the audience will always see an interesting picture.

Equally as important as the stage picture is the conduct of your puppets when on the stage. They should all show interest when another puppet is speaking. This may be done by turning the head to listen, nodding the head to show agreement, shaking the head to show disagreement, leaning forward to show interest. In a hundred small ways a puppet can show life. The point is, there should be no dead puppets on the stage.

But there is a danger here. Puppets must not divert the attention of the audience from the main character. For example, in Men of Iron in the scene showing the great hall of Devlin Castle, the minstrel is singing before the king and his court. The jester, with his pranks and capers, could easily have taken too much of the attention of the audience to himself and away from the minstrel, but instead, he sat down on the floor near the minstrel and pretended to be playing a lute. He followed every gesture of the minstrel and when the minstrel finished his song, rose and bowed low before the king. The jester did likewise, to the amusement of the audience.

Good puppeteering is much like good ball playing, the interest is in the ball but the ball always moves. It goes from player to player. Any player who holds the ball is the center of interest, some longer and some shorter. Your skill and cleverness can keep this sense of movement and interest in your puppets and their play. This smoothness is accomplished by your quickness in watching for the last words spoken by the speaker before you, which is called your cue; and also by your cleverness in planning ways to help out a puppeteer and his puppet who has difficult things to do.

When the bear trainer, for example, commands his bear to stand on his head, the boy who is holding the bear’s controller must have time enough to make the difficult manipulation of the strings. If the puppeteers who manage the squires make their puppets lean forward and call out in surprise to each other, “What? A trick?” “The bear can do a trick.” “Look.” “Bravo!” “Bravo!” (as the bear succeeds in standing on its head), they will be of great assistance to the bear puppeteer.

Here is an illustration of the way in which you can avoid awkward pauses. The Knave of Hearts, in the play by that name, steals some tarts and climbs out of the window. Now you can see that his puppeteer would need plenty of time in getting the knave through the window. Lady Violetta, who helps him steal the tarts, shows great excitement and cries to him to hurry, then she runs to the door, saying that she hears someone coming. Then she runs back again. She repeats this until the knave has made his escape. You can easily imagine how this clever trick excited the audience.

Getting your puppet off the stage is just as important as getting it on. Time your exits so that there is no awkward pause between the last word spoken and the exit.

You have imagined yourself sitting in the audience seeing a picture. Now can you imagine your disappointment when you cannot understand a single word the puppets say? Inexperienced puppeteers are apt to think that it is the high, loud voice that will reach the people in the last row of seats. Experienced puppeteers know that it is the clear, full, rich voice that carries. Address your words to those farthest away from you. Keep in mind that your voice must travel down and out through the proscenium arch. If your head is not lowered, your voice will strike the curtain, which will deaden it.

Sometimes it is necessary to make the voice seem to come from a distance and yet every word must be distinct. This can be done in a very simple way. Bend your arm and lift it to your face, holding your mouth inside your elbow. Now when you speak, your words seem to come from a distance. As you slowly lift your mouth from your arm, your voice seems to come nearer and nearer. In Sigurd, the Volsung, there is a scene where the dragon, who possesses a treasure of gold, comes, at twilight, out of the rocky crevice of a great cliff, to drink at a pool. Before he is seen, his voice is dimly heard calling, “Gold, gold, my gold, my gold.” The boy who spoke these lines used this trick so cleverly that his audience shivered as the dragon appeared.

Every person knows that the greatest charm of a voice is its naturalness. This naturalness comes to you when you let your feelings go down the strings into your puppet. Then it is that your puppet comes to life, is gay, sad, prankish, haughty, timid, bold, willful, cunning, sly, or lovable. When your puppet obeys your every feeling, you and your puppet are one.

CHAPTER X
Presenting Your Play

The successful presenting of a play requires much planning and organization. It will be necessary to choose a property man, two assistants, a stage electrician, an inspector of the strings, one assistant, and a prompter. It is the business of the property man to see that the scenery and properties are in perfect condition before each performance. He, with his assistant, sets the stage long in advance of the performance. He changes the settings for each act. It is necessary for him to have two assistants, one for the right and one for the left of the stage. The property man finds places for all his properties. He places the properties for each scene together. He places the back drops and wings in the order in which they are to be used. Each property, when not in use, should be in its place. Benches should be provided behind the scenes for the puppeteers. If chairs are used, beware of squeaky ones.

The stage electrician is responsible for the lights and the making of all changes in lighting between acts. He must be provided with a chart of instructions, giving the lighting plan for every scene. This plan should be securely tacked where it can be easily referred to. The electrician can also take care of the drawing of the curtains, which is an important task. There should also be a sheet of cues for the drawing of the curtains, since a scene can be spoiled by drawing the curtains too soon, too quickly, too slowly, or too jerkily. The last words spoken in the first scene of Men of Iron were: “I will climb the wall and fetch it.” This was the signal or cue for the electrician to close the curtains.

The prompter ought to have a low, clear voice and ought to be a person in whom every puppeteer has confidence. Girls usually make good prompters because of the quality of their voices. The prompter should stand on the bridge near the middle and always keep her eyes on the lines. She should never fail to prompt a puppeteer the instant he needs it. She never confuses the puppeteers by trying to prompt them when they do not need it. She must know the play so well that she understands every pause.

The inspector of the strings is another important person in the organization. This office is usually well filled by a girl. If there are a great many puppets she may need an assistant. It is her duty to test all the strings about a half hour before the play. This is done by placing the thumb and forefinger on the string, just under the controller, then letting the string pass between the thumb and forefinger as they travel down to the marionette. If there is a weak part in the string it can be easily detected. She sees that the fastening at the controller is secure, and that the strings hang straight and untangled from the controller to the marionette. She should provide a first-aid box fully equipped with scissors, thread, paper of pins, thumb tacks, and needles. A threaded needle, with the thread the length of the knee strings, can be pinned into the curtain so that it is available the second it is needed. A place for everything, and everything in its place, does much toward making your performance move along with smoothness and rapidity. All puppeteers, including property man, electrician, and prompter should wear gymnasium shoes. In fact, anyone who assists behind the scenes should do the same. If you find that your bridge stairs creak the puppeteers should remain on the bridge throughout the scene. Before a puppeteer comes down from the bridge, he hangs up his marionette.

Since silence is so necessary behind the scenes, it can readily be understood how important it is to have absolutely no talking on the bridge, or between puppeteers who are waiting behind the stage. Scenes must be changed and properties moved almost noiselessly. If you have a high ideal of perfection for your play, two or three weeks of daily rehearsals will be necessary. This is especially true for any marionette ballet, such as Petrouchka, where it is necessary to memorize the music, because each puppeteer is dependent on the music for his cues. Before the curtains open all marionettes that are to be in the scene should be in their places on the stage. Hold your controller with a steady hand, so that your marionette is motionless. Keep your puppet on its feet. Do not let it sag. Remember the sagging puppet.

As soon as the curtains open, begin your lines. Remember that a play is like a piece of music, it moves onward in perfect time. An awkward pause, or hesitation, breaks the time and destroys the spell you are weaving about your audience. Entrances and exits should be so arranged that the marionette makes his entrance and begins to speak his lines as soon as the speaker before him finishes his lines. We have spoken of the spell that you are trying to weave. Let us see what has been done, so far, toward this end. The puppets are beautifully made. The scenery is lovely in design and color. Hands, through patient practice, have acquired that deftness and sureness that we call skill. The voices are well pitched and appropriate for each character.

The greatest thing, however, is yet to be done. It is to touch the imagination of your audience. The key to this world of the imagination is suggestion. The lights and setting give the mood. The voices and the movements of the puppets convey the thoughts and emotions of the characters of the play. The harmony of lights, setting, voices, and the movements of the puppets work the spell.

In the battle scene in Sigurd, the Volsung, the curtains open on a stage where a low mound and one tree is silhouetted against a twilight sky. A bit of afterglow still lingers. On the ground are several shields and spears and two prostrate figures. Against one of the figures lies Sigmund, the great Norse hero. Beside him kneels his faithful wife, Hiordis. The audience feels that, shrouded in the mysterious blue light, are a great host of noble slain. Sigmund bids Hiordis gather up the pieces of his broken sword to keep for his son that is to be born. Out of the shadows, dimly seen in his “gleaming gray mantle and cloud-blue hood,” comes Odin, to welcome Sigmund to the hall of the heroes in Walhalla. Hiordis bows her head in silence and the audience experiences her grief, and shares her hope for the future. The afterglow in the sky seems to be a promise of a new day.