Puppetry as reinforcement or rupture of cultural perceptions of the disabled body

ABSTRACT

This article proposes puppetry as a practice uniquely situated to intervene in ideological constructions of the disabled body both onstage and off. Examining our current and recent practice-based research that uses puppetry to intervene in cultural perceptions of disability, we put forth a provocation, asking readers to consider the ways in which puppetry practices can be deployed to enable performances by disabled puppeteers as well as in ways that engage with cultural constructions of disability. We suggest that puppets, as bodies that are materially constructed, can both reinforce and rupture such constructions.

KEYWORDS:

• Puppet
• disability
• bodies
• Irish

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Laura Purcell-Gates is Senior Lecturer in Drama at Bath Spa University and Artistic Director of Wattle and Daub, a UK-based puppetry company. Her main areas of research concern theatre and puppetry for social change, with a focus on constructions of and artistic processes involving bodies, puppets and performing objects.

Emma Fisher is a disabled set, costume and puppet designer based in Limerick, Ireland. She is currently doing her PhD in Puppetry and Disability at Mary Immaculate College, University of Limerick. She established Beyond the Bark puppet and installation theatre in 2007.

Notes

1. Life Outside the Box website with link to book and DVD: http://www.corinaduyn.com/site/community-arts-puppet-project/

2. Website with images from Artastic arts in disability workshops: http://artastic.ie/gallery/arts-in-disability-workshop-images/

3. Helium Arts’ Puppet Portal Project website: http://www.helium.ie/programmes/programmes-archive/puppet-portal-project/