The Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance (Routledge Companions)

The Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance offers a wide ranging perspective on how scholars and artists are currently reevaluating the theoretical, historical, and theatrical significance of performance that embraces the agency of inanimate objects. This book proposes a collaborative, responsive model for broader artistic engagement in and with the material world. Its twenty-eight essays aim to advance the study of the puppet not only as a theatrical object, but also as a vibrant artistic and scholarly discipline.

This Companion looks at puppetry and material performance from six perspectives: theoretical approaches to the puppet, perspectives from practitioners, revisiting history, negotiating tradition, material performances in contemporary theatre, and hybrid forms. Its wide range of topics, which span fifteen countries over five continents, encompasses:

• visual dramaturgy



• theatrical juxtapositions of robots and humans



• contemporary transformations of Indonesian wayang kulit



• Japanese ritual body substitutes



• recent European productions featuring toys, clay, and food