The Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance

The Routledge Companion to Puppetry and Material Performance offers a wide-ranging <P>perspective on how scholars and artists are currently re-evaluating the theoretical, historical,</P><P>and theatrical significance of performance that embraces the agency of inanimate objects.</P><P>This book proposes a collaborative, responsive model for broader artistic engagement in and</P><P>with the material world. Its 28 chapters aim to advance the study of the puppet not only as a</P><P>theatrical object but also as a vibrant artistic and scholarly discipline.</P><P>This <I>Companion </I>looks at puppetry and material performance from six perspectives: theoretical</P><P>approaches to the puppet, perspectives from practitioners, revisiting history, negotiating tradition,</P><P>material performances in contemporary theatre, and hybrid forms. Its wide range of topics, which</P><P>span 15 countries over five continents, encompasses:</P><P>• visual dramaturgy</P><P>• theatrical juxtapositions of robots and humans</P><P>• contemporary transformations of Indonesian <I>wayang kulit</P></I><P>• Japanese ritual body substitutes</P><P>• recent European productions featuring toys, clay, and food.</P><P>The book features newly commissioned essays by leading scholars such as Matthew Isaac</P><P>Cohen, Kathy Foley, Jane Marie Law, Eleanor Margolies, Cody Poulton, and Jane Taylor.</P><P>It also celebrates the vital link between puppetry as a discipline and as a creative practice</P><P>with chapters by active practitioners, including Handspring Puppet Company’s Basil Jones,</P><P>Redmoon’s Jim Lasko, and Bread and Puppet’s Peter Schumann. Fully illustrated with more</P><P>than 60 images, this volume comprises the most expansive English-language collection of</P><P>international puppetry scholarship to date.</P>