31/01/2026
As part of an Arts Council Agility award, I’m in the process of making my second and third marionettes of this style. I learned the techniqueEugene O'Neill Theater Centerr Center during the Puppetry Conference last summer. My first marionette, made of wood, was based on a real boy named Daniel Tighe, who survived the Irish Famine.
Having not used power tools before, I feel proud to be less apprehensive about using them now. I believe that with more time, this will become a faster process for creating interesting theatre.
What I like about puppetry is that you can play with scale, and as an actor, you can explore different styles of manipulation and animation to make your presence as a storyteller completely invisible. Alternatively, you can make the manipulation of the character part of what you are trying to convey, thereby commenting on the story as a puppeteer.
Right now this looks like just a wooden cut off…will see how it develops….
