b'T3 Journal - Student Writing in Drama, University of Exeter 2020-21 Matthew Lawrencebreaths volume, rhythm and style tells the spectator aoriginal). This once again shows how the sign-system ofin Figure 2, one puppeteer wears the puppet like a shellTillis, S. (1992) Towards an Aesthetics of the Puppet: Puppetry as a Theatrical lot about the character of the puppet (Millar 2018: 66).movement manipulates the audience into suspending theirwhich engages [the puppeteers] muscles more specificallyArt. London: Greenwood Press.It is through the vocalised rhythm of the breath thatdisbelief and immersing themselves into the impression ofin the action [] making the movement seem to comeWilliams, H. (2019) How Can You Put Life of Pi Onstage? With the spectator can deduce the cognitive behaviour of thelife being portrayed. from inside the object (Millar 2018: 67). This allows thePuppets. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.puppets character. Through analysing the performancepuppeteer to animate the tiger puppet in a lifelike manner,com/2019/07/16/theater/life-of-pi-play.html [Accessed 31 March 2021].of the Joey puppet in War Horse, we can understand howAnother way in which I will analyse how a puppet isas they can physically feel which paw is bearing weight, breath relates thought and mood to the body (Millarphysically enlivened through the sign-system of movementas others are being lifted and therefore achieve a natural 2018: 19). In scene nine, Albert attempts to harnessis through examining the importance of performed weightbalance to the tigers movement. With one puppeteer Joey in order to teach him how to plough the farm.and balance. The MOPPIV and rear-rod styles of puppetrycontrolling from inside the puppet, it achieves the effect This moment depicts Joeys unwillingness to wear theare seen in all three productions that I am analysing, andof a heavy gravitational pull as the tiger lands from the harness and demonstrates how the puppeteers displaythey each present the puppet with an authentic weightpounce. This helps to contribute to the authenticity of the the horses reluctance through breath. Joey lets out short,which is pivotal in maintaining audience belief. Aspuppet and avoid[s] limpness and increases the credibility tempered breaths in a staccato rhythm. As he gets moreMeschke describes in his own definition, authenticity isthat they are earthbound (Meschke 1992: 118). From the frustrated, the chuffing is manifested through expansionsthat which corresponds to natural laws (Meschke 1992:analysis of Life of Pi, we can understand how performing of the ribcage, operated by the two puppeteers inside110). This is to say that in order for a puppet to be regardedthe puppet with an authentic weight helps to transform the puppet. This movement is complemented by suddenas authentically presenting its subject, it must conformthe audiences perception of the puppet from a lightweight jolts of the head, which signals to the audience that Joeysto the physical expectations of that being. For instance, awooden figure to a heavy, muscular, flesh-filled body. This character is stubborn and that his emotions, in this scene,large elephant puppet would be expected to have heavy,supports McPharlins belief that the [audience] ceases are tempestuous and fearful. This analysis verifies howcumbersome movements with a low centre of gravity; eachto think of wood and wire [and] is [instead] absorbed in vocalised breathing carries the emotional resonance offoot would be planted firmly onto the stage as it walks.the action (McPharlin in Tillis 1992: 47). By performing the animal [puppet] (Luther in Kohler 2009: 145). ByMeschke illustrates the significance of this with his analysisweight within the puppet, the audience can see the figure performing emotion through an inanimate object, theof a human puppet:become imbued with another recognisable sign of life. audience are able to suspend their disbelief and beginAs the portrayal of weight becomes more authentic, to empathise with the puppet. The audience is furtherWhen a person walks, the natural lawsthe suspension of audience disbelief becomes stronger, prompted to believe the puppet has life through the signpermit him to lift one leg at a time, but not both atevidencing that the sign-system of movement is elemen-of breath, as it punctuates and validates all movementthe same time. [] [For puppet theatre,] if there is thetal in immersing the audience in this illusion of life performed by the puppet. Handsprings co-founder, Basilslightest carelessness in lifting, both legs leave the floor(Tillis 1992: 7) within the puppets featured in War Horse Jones, supports this with his claim that the in-breath issimultaneously and the illusion is destroyed. It becomesand Life of Pi. a kind of signalling, a semiotic of movement (Jones ininauthentic. (Meschke 1992: 110)Sichel 2009: 166). The breath signifies that the puppet has decided to move. The spectator reads the in-breath as aThis authentic illusion is evident in War Horse and Life sign that gives the energy (Jones in Sichel 2009: 166), andof Pi, as both productions imitate the lifelike qualities ofJones, B. (2009) Puppetry and Authorship. In: Taylor, J. (2009) Handspring the out-breath as a sign that ends the phrase and passesthe animals they feature. In The Lion King, there is morePuppet Company. Johannesburg: David Krut Publications, pp.253-269.the energy to the next figure (Jones in Sichel 2009: 166).freedom to break away from this authenticity because theKohler, A. (2009) Thinking Through Puppets. In: Taylor, J. (2009) This encourages, as Tillis describes, the imagination ofproduction does not aim to present believable animals,Handspring Puppet Company. Johannesburg: David Krut Publications, life (Tillis 1992: 23) as humans also perform this sequencebut rather Disneys cartoon imagining of the characterspp.42-150.of breath in their everyday routines. This underlinesTimon and Pumbaa. This allows for playful and caricature- Meschke, M. (1992) In Search of Aesthetics for the Puppet Theatre. New Delhi: how, when performed by a puppet, the audience observesesque presentations of the animals, rather than whollySterling Publishers.breath as a sign of life. I believe that the most powerfulauthentic portrayals of a meerkat and warthog. In multi- Millar, M. (2018) Puppetry: How to Do It. London: Nick Hern Books.way breath is utilised in puppet theatre is during momentsoperated puppets, all three puppeteers work [] together of stillness. Millar suggests that breath allows the puppetto create the illusion of weight and balance (Millar 2018:National Theatre (2011) What is Unique About Puppets In Theatre? [online video] Available at: https://youtu.be/JcHA4r3EBqk [Accessed 31 to stay alive, even in stillness (Millar 2018: 117). From196). This illusion is physically created when the puppetMarch 2021)this reading, we can infer that when the only movementmoves with a lifelike weight and muscularity (Millar Roberts, A. (2014) Biographia Literaria by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. performed by a puppet is the act of breathing, the audience2018: 127). We can observe how the tiger puppet movesEdinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, pp.207-214.are able to recognise the puppets aliveness presented inwith this weight and muscularity in Life of Pi. In a scene its purest form. A puppets stillness allows the audience tobetween Pi and the tiger, the tiger launches himself acrossSichel, A. (2009) Escaping the Puppet Ghetto. In: Taylor, J. (2009) Handspring Puppet Company. Johannesburg: David Krut Publications, understand that breathing is physical, yet it has a profoundthe lifeboat towards Pi. This attack action demonstratespp.151-175.metaphorical power. This non-existent substance (air) thathow the puppeteers encourage the audience to suspend Taylor, J. (2009) Handspring Puppet Company. Johannesburg: David Krut is passing through this mechanical being represents thetheir disbelief and believe that the lightweight woodenPublications.very essence of life: the soul (Jones 2009: 262, brackets inpuppet weighs four hundred and fifty pounds. As seen 44 45'