Paper Puppets: Creativity for all

Puppetry has firmly established itself on educational syllabi across the UK – from being a design role to undertake, a BTEC option, studying Handspring as a practitioner, through to whole degree courses. Students will often experience puppetry within a production that isn't labelled as a puppetry show – from the classics to pantomime – and need to have an understanding of the genre to make informed analytical, as well as practical, decisions.

From hand puppets to rod puppets, shadow puppetry, marionettes and more, puppetry is very much in the theatrical vocabulary, with The Lion King, War Horse and Life of Pi in recent years helping to pave the way for mainstream inclusion of the form. With numerous texts and resources now available for teachers and students, many companies exist to provide educational workshops.