Selecting stories for Puppet Shows

Virtually any story can be adapted for use as a puppet play. Here are some general guidelines for selecting stories to use with your puppets. The story should be fairly short. Children begin to lose interest after about 15 minutes, so it is better to have several short stories or episodes rather than one long play. The cast of characters should be small. it is difficult to perform a show with more than 4 characters. Your stage is usually fairly small and it is difficult to conceal more than 2 performers, each using 2 puppets. Stories should have readily identifiable props and backgrounds.The backgrounds should be simple and should not overwhelm the puppets. Remember that "less is more". If your story has multiple characters and changes in scenery, try to simplify by having one puppet do the dialog of several minor characters and try to find a generic background that could be more than one setting in the story. [Example: rather than having Jack climb up a beanstalk, use a plain blue background and have him talk about how tall the beanstalk is while looking up, make some climbing sounds with the puppet offstage, then have him come up from below the front of the stage and talk about how high he is while looking down. The audience will have the impression that they actually saw Jack climb the beanstalk without you having to figure out the mechanics of having the puppet actually climb] Familiar Stories Fairytales are good materials to use for puppet plays. They are usually short, don't call for elaborate props and can be done with a limited cast of characters. Poems Poems, limericks and riddles can be used as short puppet plays. Having a recurring character which speaks in rhyme or riddle gives the audience something to look forward to during the course of the play. Riddles also make a good "intermission" between stories in a longer production. Writing your own stories Stories you write yourself can work well as puppet plays. Remember that a puppet play is like any other story. Every story must have the following three parts-- Beginning--Introduces the characters and lays the groundwork for the rest of the story. Middle--Builds the story. Usually has some sort of problem to solve or difficulty to overcome. End--Resolves the problem posed in the middle of the story. Your puppet play must have all three parts or your audience will wonder "What happened to the rest of the story?" For puppet plays to be used with children, remember the "3 S's" Keep it Short Make it Silly (Use a lot of sight gags--characters that pop up unexpectedly, slap-stick comedy, exaggerate emotion--think Keystone Kops movies.) Keep it in Sight (Use bright colors for your puppets and their accessories, emphasize outrageous contrasts between characters and provide strong visual clues throughout the show. Never have your puppets just standing still and talking--have them moving!) To Puppet Index To Show Index