Throughout my experience with puppetry, I have seen several hundred puppet plays performed from scripts. Some I still remember, but others faded from memory on the way home. What made the difference? Here are 3 important factors that I have gleaned from these presentations.
Volume
The puppeteers have to speak loud enough, without shouting, for the audience to hear them. Why? If an audience member is having difficulty hearing a puppet, she generally does one of two things: lean forward and listen carefully, or lean back and stop listening. Those who work to listen often miss key words or phrases, can become frustrated and miss the message. People who stop listening miss the whole message.
Sometimes if you can’t hear someone, but watch their lips as they speak, you can tell what they’re saying. (Try it while watching TV. Turn down the sound, focus on the person’s lips, and see how much you can discern.) The problem with the puppets in that scenario is that you can only see the mouth moving up and down. You can’t see the lips forming the words and it’s even worse if lip sync is off.
If you have a puppet that is so quiet that the audience has to strain to hear a puppet speak with a booming voice, it’s hard for the audience to follow. They have to strain to hear one, but back off on the other. Often, they sit back and choose to miss the soft-spoken puppet’s lines or words. Some puppeteers only speak loud enough to be heard by those in front of them. The further back the audience member is, the less they listen and the more likely they are to tune out.
The best and easiest solution is headworn microphones for every puppeteer. That way, the sound person can adjust each volume so everyone speaks at the same level. It is the best, but also the most expensive. Another option is to place a microphone on a stand inside the theater and position it as close to the soft-spoken puppeteer as possible.
Enthusiasm
Enthusiasm is contagious. If the audience feels your enthusiasm, it will help draw them to the play. Keep in mind that this is not about your performance, but about what the audience receives. In other words, enthusiastically do your work for the public, not for yourself. If it’s an entertaining play, focus on presenting it in a way that makes the audience laugh as much as possible. For ministry-related works, understand that when done well, they have the potential to bring about real change in your audience members.
To be prepared
You know the play. The way to do it is to practice it over and over again. You don’t have to memorize everything, but you should know it well enough that you just have to look at the script while you perform it. If you have to read the script, it takes too much concentration and the enthusiasm fades.
The better you know the script, the more confident you will be. The safer you are, the more enthusiastic you will become. If you are not prepared for the presentation, apprehension may arise that robs you of enthusiasm.
I’d rather see a team with great enthusiasm and mediocre puppetry skills than a team with great puppetry skills and no enthusiasm. But the ideal is to see a team with great puppet skills and great enthusiasm, a goal that every puppet team should strive for. Not only are they more fun to watch, but the works will stay in people’s memories for a long time.