Download The history of toy-theatre - 2nd WORLD CONGRESS OF ARTS

Orsolya Drávucz
Ferenc Jahn Hospital
Addictional and Crisis-Intervention Department
Toy-theatre
The application of the puppet- theatre and its experiences in the psychotherapy with adult
psychiatric patients
The toy theatre or paper-theatre –I will use both terms- is very well-known and popular in
Western Europe. For me it was a real surprise when I first heard about it. It wasn’t so long
ago.
When I looked it up, I realised how big and interesting history this kind of theatre has in
Western Europe. But I have not found any data in the Hungarian puppet-theatre books.
The history of toy-theatre
Toy-theatre is a unique form of puppetry, one which encompasses most of the known art
forms in miniature. But it is not just a dramatic performance in little.
The toy-theatre originated in Europe at the beginning of the 19th century and played an
important part in documenting the productions and theatres of the 1800’s because it copied
the actual theatres, productions, characters, and performances of the time, and printed them on
sheets of paper for reproduction in miniature in the home. The sheets were painted, pasted and
cut out. The theatre itself was constructed of wood, or mounted on heavy cardboard. The play
was rehearsed and finally performed for a living-room audience of family and friends.
Many prominent individuals, such as Charles Dickens, Hans Christian Andersen, Winston
Churchill included a Toy Theatre in their childhood memories. The Sound of Music
production featured such a theatre in the playroom shared by the Trapp family children.
The Toy Theatre was undoubtedly a direct descendant of the late eighteen century theatrical
portrait sheets, which were in their first concepts designed to cater for the adult theatre-going
public. However it was not long before they were spreading to younger members of the
community, and by about 1807, the English Toy Theatre had begun to emerge. These were
not however new to the continent of Europe, Vienna in particular produced model theatres
long before the close of the eighteenth century, likewise the German publications of this toy
also date from this period. But in England it’s growth was not to take place until the first part
of the nineteenth century and within a few years they were collected by child and adult alike.
Although it was mostly the children’s hobby (the title Juvenile Drama refers to it) there were
adults, too, with the same interest. Gordon Craig, Charlie Chaplin are a few of many who
have built up their gaudy toy theatres, inserted the shaky sheets of incredible scenery, and
manoeuvred the stiff cardboard characters across the stage.
The Juvenile Drama came into being soon after 1800, and rocketed at once to the heights of
fashion. In the theatre proper, it was the heyday then of melodrama, pantomime and the
equestrian drama and no sooner did a new play make a hit at Covent Garden, the Olympic or
Astley’s, than sheets of the play would be rushed out for the miniature stage.
Early nineteenth century England was seized with a passion for the theatre. As the number of
theatres and their patrons increased, so did the tide of souvenirs and mementoes, floating on
the top of this tide of popularity was the juvenile drama. By mid 1830’s these paper wonders
had created a new interest that hit the playrooms of England like a tidal wave. The play itself
would be potted down into a brief but emotional booklet. The characters and scenery would
be drawn in miniature, engraved on to sheets, and sold in sets, the price being twopence for
the hand-coloured sheets, and a penny for the plain ones which you coloured yourself.
In the early days the quality of the plates was magnificent. The characters would be exact
portraits of the great actors of the day. There seems no doubt that at this date the toy theatre
was a pastime for grown-ups. The Juvenile Drama was, in fact, your „Picture Post”. Instead of
buying with lush pothographs of your stage passion of the moment, you bought a set of prints,
and enacted your favourite play at home. But it soon became a popular game for children. In
the great days of the Juvenile Drama, there were in London no less than thirty publishers
produceing miniatue dramas and the men that produced them was as well known as Walt
Disney is to this generation.
Nearly everyone who has dabbled in the Juvenile Drama agrees that the performances of the
plays were usually a failure. It was the preparation that provided so many hours of delight.
It was fun to choose sheets from the vast selection at the toyshop; coloure them in gaudy
colours; cutt out the characters and scenes; past them on cardboard; past the proscenium and
the orchestra on to the theatre, fix the footlights.
It was incredibly difficult to push the characters on in the right order, to get life into the
action, to make the dialogue comprehensible, where one or two children had, by squeaking
and growling by turns, to represent a dozen different characters or more. A. E. Wilson, whose
book Penny Plain, Twopence Coloured, gives a full and charming account of the history of
the toy theatre, say the whole pleasure was in anticipation.
The ebb of popularity was to grow ever larger as the century came to its close. Many factors
assisted in the decline of the toy theatre. There were newer and far more visual entertainments
on the horizon which filled the late Victorian world with wonder. Almost every new scientific
discovery seemed to result ultimately in the development of some new playing. Manufacturers
adapted all the newly found principles to the commercial exploitation of the nursery and in
doing cast and even larger shadow over the Juvenile Theatre. The live theatre also was to
change, the age of melodrama was giving way to that of realism. The former stylized poses of
the actor which had lent itself to the static positions of the paper counterparts ceased to be the
fashion, adding yet another death knell to the paper theatre world. But in spite of all these
factors the toy theatre did survive no longer as the pinnacle of the toy industry but merely as a
shadow of its former self. Nevertheless it still remained within the echelons of the toy world
well into the 1930’s and ironically outlived most of its Victorian rivals. Indeed many of its
opponents have ceased to even be recorded or remembered.
The fact that the Juvenile Drama is still with us today must in no small part be attributed to
Benjamin Pollock. For it was he more than any other who carried on this paper phenomenon
well into this century, and on his death at the age of eighty in1937 had spent sixty of those
years publishing and selling his toy theatres and plays. After Pollock’s death his two
daughters carried on the trade until their shop in London was bombed during the World War
II bringing the business to an abrupt close.
Many collectors believe that one of the reasons for the decline of the Toy Theatre was the
elimination of personal involvement. First they became precoloured then die stamped and
precreased, some slotted together eliminating glueing and so on. With each attept to reduce to
a bare minimum the efforts on the part of the constructor so the creative instinct declined.
The quality of the prints was going down, many being reproduced not from copper-plates, but
as lithographs. And the audience was fast diminishing.
The birth of children’s magazines, the introduction of compulsory education (which meant
homework), above all, the arrival of the play of ideas in the theatre proper, lowered the
prestige and popularity of the Juvenile Drama. Some expert s in the theatre think that the
Juvenile Drama must reflect the theatre of the time, and that cannot truly flourish in an age
which laughs at melodrama.
Interest in Toy Theatre prints waned during the early 1900s but in recent years has
experienced a remarkable revival in Europe. MDE Publications produced its first toy theatre
for the Edinburgh Festival in 1968, since that time it has produced numerous theatres and
plays. In 1989, all theatrical sheets were standardised and set to an A4 format. So the tradition
of the late eighteen century are still being carried forward. Last year more than 17 coutries
participated in the International Paper Theatre Festival. (5)(6)
Puppets as a medium for therapy
The puppet always signs and symbolizes something. Its strength is enormous since the lifeless
comes to life. The player lives through the role of the mover and the one that is moved at the
same time. In the living theatre the actor transforms himself into his role. His real self is
hidden behind the role, and can unite with the inner-system of another human being. This is
not typical of the puppet-theatre. These are the main differences between human- and puppettheatre.
Human theatre
It is the figure who brings the drama itself, it’s
character is developping
Rational, cause and effect principle
One of the artistic component is dominant
(music in the opera, dance in ballet etc.)
The actor identifies himself with the
character, his personality is hidden
Puppet theatre
The drama is in the action
Ratio is not important, tales
The artistic components are equal
The actor can project his personality into the
puppet, and can be outsider
The viewer sees only the character, and not the character and the actor together. The puppet
theatre actor is in the role, but is an outsider, too, at the same time, so there is a distance to be
more critical with the character. In the human theatre a universal message is showed as a
personal story, but in the puppet theatre there is only universal message.
Puppet theatre is a very good instrument to express religious contents, mysteries, moral
teachings, and the view of life of a given time. With the help of the puppets we can express
things to which the human body is unable. It can symbolise the superhuman attributes of the
soul, the wonders and the secret and holy feelings. It can produce the illusion even if the actor
were laughable. It makes compex effects. It doesn’t know the big pain, but it is serious even
in the funniest moments. It influences our feelings, not our mind. The subject of the puppet
theatre is not to copy the human behaviour, its aim is to symbolise thoughts and feelings.
The puppet theatre is visual, which correspond to the children’s disposition and has a strong
influence on the adults, too. It is dramatic, artistic, symbolic and based on the action. The
puppet theater is a creative and joyful process. It is easy to activate the patients. It makes
possible:
-to facilitate expression
-to express themselves, their problems and the hidden, ashamed and bottled features of their
personality, too.
-to get a 3D vision of what is inside of them, inoffensive style, give shapes to complex
feelings, values, voices, situations. I lived through but I am not through with it.
-to put these onto the stage, have a good view of them a personal distance, perspective
-the confrontation, the elaboration.
-Not only the revelation of the symptoms is possible, but the revenge without guilty
conscience, and to live out the destructive tendencies in a playful, motoric, verbal and
affective way.
-to find one’s own solutions by playing different roles, gaining in clarity and well-being
-the socialization, practice adaptive behavior-forms.
-to form a group.
The game with the puppets is popular and often used as a method in children-psychotherapy.
Despite the advatages of the method, it is rarely applied in the adult-psychoterapy.
The method that has been used so far at the mainly psychotic cases has a wider indication than
it has been expected and it carries further possibilities, as well.
Simple tools are needed to the realization of the performance (cardboard, coloured pencils,
paint and thin sticks) so even the less skilful patients can be successful in it. The characters,
the scenery and the wings made of paper and coloured by the players. The few materials that
are used won't make the patients uncertain or less confident and it makes the interpretation
easier for the therapist.
The toy-theater therapy group at the Jahn Ferenc Hospital works with 6-7 members. The
group is heterogen in the respect of the illnesses. The group is open for any newcomers. The
gathering has four parts:
1. Theme: The group chooses an important topic and come to an agreement which story they
want to see on the stage. (The therapist uses psychodramatic methods during this part)
2. Art: The members design, coloure and cut out the chatacters and the scenery.
3. The Performance: the "original" story and the changes
4. Discussion
Experiences
In our department the patients are drog-abused or suicide commiters, but behind this
symptomes there are many psychiatric illnesses as depresseion, social phobia, anxious
disorders, compliance disorders, and in a few cases psychotic symptoms.
It is a big problem for the patients to talk about themselves without any fear.
The beginning is always a little bit difficult. They are embarrased as they see the pencils, the
scissors and the paper theatre, and when they realize that they have to play. But soon they
become relaxed, the process of the creation makes them forget their fears.
It was a great experience to realize that the adult patients can enjoy playing with puppets.
Even the patients suffering from depression who lost the ability to find pleasure in creating
something, could revive their manual creative instinct. It was easy to arouse their interest and
make a good athmosphere in the settings.
Only the expression of their emotions can be curative. And this method helps to express
themselves, to crystallize their ego. Topics can be very helpful, like Do your self-portrait,
What am I afraid of? My illness, What do I want most?, My favourite tales.
Those patients who have problem to establish and keep contacts, have the chance to get in
touch with others through the puppet. The little paper theatre makes the illusion of the
invisibility, so they can talk free and easy.
In the Far East the puppet theatre has great tradition. There is a strong belief in fate, so they
easily identify themselves with the puppet who is moving by an outsider’s will.
It is liberating that they can make a very-very small being which is smaller than themselves
and who talk and move the way they want. They endow puppet with emotions, motivations,
voice and spirit. It gives a huge power to be the creator ot to be the magician who can alter the
lifless into alive.
Problems can be projected into the puppets and can be worked through, allowing the dramatic
release of feelings and the resolution of emotional conflicts.
Puppetry stimulates storytelling, providing useful diagnostic information, and offers the
opportunity for patients to express and process agression and relationship conflicts with
limited anxiety, fear and guilt.
The negative characters are comforming since there are not only the good that can absolve
them from guilty feelings.
It is also liberating that anything is possible. Everything that a human body can not do. And
there are no limitation in the casting relating the body or the physical appearance. So anybody
can be beautiful princess, strong man or old wise man…
The puppetry is said to be very childlish. It is said that the adults outgrow the puppetry. Some
things are important for the children and others for the adults.
Nursery-school age children are using mostly animal characters. The stories are simple and
easy to follow. Moving the puppets give the opportunity to live out motions and emotions.
For the primary scool age children fantasy will be important. The stories are getting more
complex. In the puberty the focus of the interest is inside the ego. They have the need to
analise themselves, to understand the world. They are critical and instable. For them the
puppetry is too slow, boring and childlish.
After the age of emotional-chaos, when they are not afraid of the charge of infantilism, the
playfulness of the puppetry can attract the adult. It is more abstract, symbilic for the adults
which stimulate not just the emotions, but the mind, as well.
As you might see, the puppet-theatre can help in the psychotherapic process to explore and
work up the problems in a protected and gentle way. It has a wider indication than it has been
expected and it carries further possibilities.
Bibliography
1. Ambrus Ferencné (szerk.): Játék és egészség, Az Egészségügyi Minisztérium egészségügyi
felvilágosítási központjának kiadványa, 1972.
2. Dr Hermann Alice: A báb hatása a gyermek személyiségének alakulására in: Bábozzunk az
óvódában, Népművelési Propaganda Iroda, 1969.
3. Polcz Alaine: A bábjáték lélektana, in: Hollós Róbertné (szerk.): A bábjáték lélektana,
Népművelési Intézet. Tanulmánykötet 18. 1962.
4. Tarbay Ede (szerk.): Bábesztétikai szöveggyüjtemény, Tankönyvkiadó, 1976.
5. Sandberg, G.:Background Info on Toy Theatre in: www.datasync.com
6. James, A.S.: The end of the Juvenile Drama? In: www.puppetguild.org.uk