September 2006

How to order

All books are paperback unless stated otherwise.

CUT AND ASSEMBLE A PETER PAN TOY THEATER — A Complete Production in Full Colour. Tom Tierney
Every character, every setting, everything you need to produce your own Peter Pan theatre is provided here, including a synopsis of the story and detailed assembly directions with a diagram. Now fans of Peter Pan, young and old can stage a little bit of Never Land in their own homes.

DIRECTING PUPPET THEATRE STEP BY STEP. Carol Fijan and Frank Ballard with Christina Starobin
Puppetry follows the same rules as theatre. With this in mind, as director you will learn what your responsibilities are and how to develop the skills to design sets, puppets, costumes and props. Illustrated.

EXPOSED BY THE MASK — Form and Language in Drama. Peter Hall
The central argument of this book is that form and structured language paradoxically give freedom to power of thought and feeling in theatre, much like the masks which enabled actors in early Greek drama to express extreme emotion. The mask may take many forms: Peter Hall examines the precise language of Beckett and Pinter, the classical form of Mozart’s opera, and Shakespeare’s verse. ISBN 1 84002 182 9

HOW TO BECOME A VENTRILOQUIST. Edgar Bergen
After an informative and inspiring introduction, the author discusses "near" ventriloquism, the technique performers use to create the illusion of life in a moving, speaking puppet. Successive chapters focus on uses of the doll-dummy, hand puppets, shadowgraphs, and cardboard dummies. Bergen also offers valuable tips on staging, execution of "distant" ventriloquism, and much more. Forty-eight illustrations enhance this practical compilation of helpful hints and expert advice from one of the great masters of the art.



I AM THE STORY — The Art of Puppetry in Education and Therapy. Caroline Astell-Burt
Puppets are fun and joy for everyone, but they can also be a major tool in helping self-expression and communication involving even the most withdrawn person in decision-making and activity. From helping people with disabilities to early years literacy work, as well as projects for development in the Third World, the art of puppetry provides the inspiration and motivation needed to encourage people to act for themselves. ISBN 0 285 63619 7

MAKING AND MANIPULATING MARIONETTES — David Currell
Making and Manipulating Marionettes is a comprehensive guide to design, construction and control of string puppets, a craft and performance art that has fascinated audiences for over two thousand years. Timeless principles, combined with traditional and modern materials and techniques, are explained with precision and clarity, accompanied by colour photographs and detailed line drawings. ISBN 1 86126 663 4 (HB)

MASKS AND MASKING. Faces of Tradition and Belief Worldwide. Gary Edson
Placing the mask in the context of humanity’s evolution, this book argues that the mask should not be assessed in the service of any single function. Instead the chapters provide a comprehensive understanding of the mask as a powerful cultural phenomenon— a means by which individual communities communicate their dignity and sense of purpose as they establish a continuum between the natural and supernatural worlds. HB ISBN 0-7864-2118-5

MARIONETTES — How to Make and Work Them. Helen Fling
This is a comprehensive book of marionette craft — from making heads and constructing bodies to stringing the marionettes on one- and two-hand controls. It is a book for both beginners and experienced puppeteers.

MASK AND PERFORMANCE With Everyday Materials. Gita Wolf. V. Geetha. Anushka Ravishankar
This is a very accessible and practical guide to putting up a performance with masks. It can be used by children working on their own, as well as educators interested in guided activity. ISBN 81 86211 47 0

MASK CHARACTERIZATION — An Acting Process. Libby Appel
This offers teachers a detailed view of working with masks. Comprising two parts (an instructor’s and an actor’s guide), it defines and discusses the characterization process, providing the theory behind the processes and the step-by-step procedure in the development of the character from the mask.

MASK IMPROVISATION FOR ACTOR TRAINING AND PERFORMANCE — The Compelling Image. Sears A. Eldredge
Featuring dozens of improvisational exercises in the innovative spirit of Viola Spolin, and supplemented with practical appendices on mask design and construction, forms and checklists, and other classroom materials.

MASK OF REALITY — An approach to Design for the Theatre. Irene Corey
"There are many books on design for the conventional theatre of appearance; this book attempts to look beneath the exterior to find a "mask" for the underlying reality." — Irene Corey.

MASK MAKING. Carole Silvin. HB
With detailed text and extensive photographs, the author provides the means to creative expression through masks from simple to complex techniques and designs. An invaluable handbook for artists, teachers, performers and craftspeople which explores maskmaking’s limitless possibilities.

MASKWORK. Jennifer Foreman. With Photographs by Richard Penton.
This book is a valuable resource for the artist, lecturer or teacher working in theatre, drama, dance, design and across a whole range of performing arts activities. Every project gives useful background information before mask-making, and places the masks in their cultural, spiritual and social contexts. The book is richly illustrated with photographs documenting mask-making techniques and illustrating original mask-making materials from many cultures worldwide. ISBN 0 7188 2948 4

MASKING UNMASKED — Four Approaches to Basic Acting. Eli Simon
This book updates the ancient art of mask acting for the contemporary stage. This is the contemporary actors’ bible to the ways in which mask acing can be used to develop character and movement in relation to mask size: full-face, bag masks, clowning and half-face commedia masks. ISBN 1 40396295 2

MASQUERADE AND IDENTITIES — Essays on Gender, Sexuality and Marginality. Edited by Efrat Tseëlon
Masquerade, both literal and metaphorical, is now a concept in many disciplines. This timely volume explores and revisits the role of the disguise in constructing, expressing and representing marginalised identities, and in undermining easy distinctions between "true" identity and artifice. The book is interdisciplinary in approach, spanning a diverse range of cultures and narrative voices. It provides provocative and nuanced ways of thinking about masquerade as a tool for construction, and a tool for critique. ISBN 0 415 25106 0

POPULAR PUPPET THEATRE IN EUROPE, 1800-1914 John McCormick & Bennie Pratasik.
The authors cover all aspects of puppet theatre during this lively and turbulent period, and include discussions of the stages, mechanical workings of the puppets, and the repertoire, covering a full range of countries and cultures. The book contains valuable and rare illustrations of puppets and theatres as well as informative diagrams. ISBN 0-521-61615-8


PRACTICAL PUPPETRY A – Z. A Guide for Librarians and Teachers. Carol R Exner.
This reference work offers an A to Z view of working with puppets. Everything from strategies for advertising and marketing puppet productions, to assembling puppets out of household materials, to elaborate sculpting of armatures is covered. Stages, curtains and props are also discussed along with the history of puppetry. Numerous illustrations are included, along with an annotated bibliography and index. ISBN 0-7864-1516-9

PROP BUILDER'S MASK MAKING HANDBOOK. Thurston James
James explores the entire scope of mask-making: choosing a mask-making material; making a life mask; designing a neutral mask; character masks; leather masks and the commedia dell'arte; decorating, dyeing, and painting masks ... and much more.

PUPPETRY AND PUPPETS An Illustrated World Survey. Eileen Blumenthal
Lavishly illustrated with 350 images and written in a lively, accessible style, Puppetry and Puppets encompasses far more than puppets. It is a celebration of artistic expression around the world. ISBN 0-500-51226-4 HB

PUPPETS AND PUPPET THEATRE. David Currell
This book is essential reading for everyone interested in making and performing with puppets. It concentrates on designing, making and performing with the main types of puppet, and is extensively illustrated in full colour throughout.

PUPPETS, MASKS, AND PERFORMING OBJECTS. Edited by John Bell
This volume which originally appeared as a special issue of TDR/The Drama Review, offers a wide range of perspectives on puppets, masks, and other performing objects. The topics include Stephen Kaplin’s new theory of puppet theatre based on distance and ratio, a historical overview of mechanical and electrical performing objects, a Yiddish puppet theatre of the 1920s and 1930s, an account of the Bread and Puppet Theatre’s Domestic Resurrection Circus - and a manifesto by its founder, Peter Schumann - and interviews with director Julie Taymoor and Perusvian mask-maker Gustavo Boada. The book also includes the first English translation of Pyotr Bogatyrev’s influential 1923 essay on Czech and Russian puppet and folk theatres. ISBN 0 262 52293 4

PUNCH AND JUDY — The Script, The Characters and Their Construction. Peter Fraser. ISBN 0 9513600 9 4
This book features a series of exemplary drawings by Peter Fraser of the traditional characters of the Punch and Judy Show along with detailed instructions of various methods of their constructions. Also reproduced here is the classic text as first recorded by John Payne Collier in 1828.

THE SPACE BETWEEN — The Art of Puppetry and Visual Theatre in Australia. Peter J. Wilson and Geoffrey Milne
The Space Between is a passionate overview of how puppetry came out of its box and took to the streets, arts centres, classrooms and comedy circuits. It shows how the form developed fresh styles of work for younger people and beguiled a whole new audience of adults by offering them an imaginative exploration of the space between illusion and reality. ISBN 0 86819 712 2

THE VICTORIAN MARIONETTE THEATRE — John McCormick
This highly enjoyable and readable study focuses on the marionette world of Victorian Britain between its heyday after the 1860s and its waning years from 1895 to 1914. Illuminated by intriguing anecdotes such as that of the Armenian photographer who fell in love with and abducted the Holden company’s Cinderella marionette in 1881, the book will appeal to everyone fascinated by the magic on nineteenth-century theatre, many of whom will discover how much the marionette could contribute to that magic. ISBN 0 87745 912 6

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