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Get Creative: How to Make a Puppet

Last updated 30 March 2020

Get creative with this three-part series on how to make a puppet from the National Theatre and Puppetry Theatre Company, Gyre & Gimble.

This YouTube series gives you a step-by-step guide on how to make a puppet from simple materials, how to ‘bring the puppet to life’ and how to tell a story with your new creation.

The videos are brought to you by the National Theatre and Gyre & Gimble, the associate puppetry directors of the international, smash-hit production of War Horse. Past productions have also included the National Theatre’s production of The Elephantom, Regent Park Open Air’s Running Wild and The Old Vic’s production of The Lorax.

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This fun activity is suitable for all ages and can be linked to Art & Design, Drama and English. When combined, the videos will give students an excellent introduction into puppetry and how to use it to create theatre.

The first video shows you step-by-step, how to create a puppet figure using paper and tape or string. Puppets can be made ‘life-size’, as in the videos, or with newspaper or something similar for table-top versions. The second video of the series, Bringing a Puppet to Life, uses exercises called Copying From Life. Gyre & Gimble explore the three principles needed to bring their puppet figures to life, focusing on ‘Breath’, ‘Focus’ and ‘Weight’. The final video explores storytelling to bring everything together and to help develop scenes with puppets as the central characters.

Gyre & Gimble Masterclass Video Series

How To Make A Puppet

Bringing a Puppet to Life

Storytelling with Puppets

Find out more about on Gyre & Gimble and their work.

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