April 24, 2002

Puppeteers are an elusive bunch. Mostly hiding behind a curtain and their dwarfish creations, they practice their ancient art on street corners, in schools, and in small local theaters. While as children we've all played with a variation of puppet at one point or another, we almost always abandon this kind of entertainment as we grow older.

Luckily though, some stay infected with the desire to amuse, captivate, charm, and delight their fellow humans with the craft of puppeteering, and some even take it a step further and raise it to a completely new artform.

Jim Henson certainly did. Who could forget the loudmouthed frog Kermit, his feisty girlfriend Miss Piggy, the knife-throwing Swedish Chef - or my personal favorite - the ferocious drummer Animal.

Being John Malkovich exposed a different and darker aspect of the craft, namely the ability to control, manipulate, and exploit another being by merely tucking a few strings, may they be connected to a limb, the heart - or the mind.

You ask: How did I get off on a rant about the unusual subject (at least for a blog) of puppeteering in the first place?

Well, I've been fortunate enough to have been given a glimpse at the mastery of a most talented representative of the puppeteering community: Ranka Gatu.

Last night, a friend brought over two video tapes of Ranka's performances, and although they were only about 10 minutes long each, I found myself simply enthralled.

Ranka's life-sized musical marionnettes revealed a world of character and seemed possessed by their own spirit, rather than being played by their strings. Mostly though I was struck by how much fun the performer herself seemed to have - and the reaction of the audience mirrored that perfectly.

In this day and age, where we are constantly bombarded with the artificial, mind-numbing, and special-effects-drenched world of movies and television, I was surprised to find that a 10 minute glimpse at the real-life realm of puppeteering was a rewarding and memorable breath of fresh air, compared to the stale concoction of "entertainment" otherwise being forced down our throats.

So, folks - step away from the wall-sized TV for an evening and go see your local puppet show.

I know I will.