Category Archives: Puppets

Yvain: Talk of love, with animal puppets

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About the scene and clip: 
The solo performer performs the talk of love between Laudine and Yvain using animal puppets—a cat and a lion—to represent the two characters. (The same actor also performed this scene without puppets.)

About the work:
Yvain is one of the five surviving romances by Chrétien de Troyes, who is often considered the father of Arthurian romance. This great work, in octosyllabic rhymed couplets, was composed for Marie, Countess of Champagne, around 1170. The romance recounts the adventures of Yvain, a knight of King Arthur’s court, who wins the beautiful Laudine in marriage (having killed her husband in single combat). He then loses both her love and his honor through his failure to keep a vow to return home from his knightly activities by an agreed-upon date. The second half of the romance is devoted to adventures in which Yvain, accompanied by a lion, creates a new name for himself (the “Knight with the Lion”), recovers his honor through a series of good deeds, and finally wins back his wife.

About the genre:
Medieval romances are typically long narratives of love and adventure in which an aristocratic hero (or occasionally a heroine) proves himself in combat and courtship. Medieval romance arose in France and Anglo-Norman England in the 12th century and spread through Western and even Eastern Europe. Many early romances tell the stories of knights and ladies at King Arthur’s court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, romances are composed in verse (typically octosyllabic rhymed couplets), and are commonly performed aloud from memory by minstrels; romances are also sometimes read aloud. In the 13th century, some romances begin to be written in prose; public and private readings become more frequent.

About the edition/translation:
Yvain or The Knight with the Lion, trans. Ruth Harwood Cline, Athens, GA, University of Georgia Press, 1975, pp. 55ff. Old French: Le Chevalier au Lion (Yvain), ed./trans. David F. Hult, in Romans de Chrétien de Troyes, eds./trans. J.M. Fritz et al, Paris, Classiques Modernes/ Livre de Poche, 1994.

About the performer/ensemble: 
Sean Brannon is a Drama student at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2013).

About the production: 
This performance was created for the course “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz at New York University in spring 2013. It was videoed by McKenzie Beehler and edited by Abigail Wahl.

Nibelungenlied: Krimhild and Brunhild puppets

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About the scene and clip:
The two great queens, Brunhild and Krimhild, hate each other. Here, we see them fight it out as puppets.

About the work:
The Nibelungenlied, or Song of the Nibelungs, is an anonymous German epic composed around 1200, probably by a professional poet or entertainer for performance in a court in Bavaria or Austria. This violent poem draws both on Germanic legends and on historical events of the distant past; it recounts the love and marriage between Siegfried and Kriemhild, a Burgundian queen of the Nibelung dynasty; the great quarrel between Kriemhild and her sister-in-law Brunhild; the treacherous murder of Siegfried; Kriemhild’s marriage to Etzel (Attila the Hun), her violent revenge for Siegfried’s death, and her death. The Niebelungenlied is composed in 4-line strophes of rhymed couplets. The long lines of somewhat irregular length have 7 accented syllables to a line for the first 3 lines of the strophe, and 8 for the last line. Over 30 manuscripts preserve this lengthy epic, in 3 main versions. It is known that the Nibelungenlied was originally sung, and a surviving melody called the “Hildebrandston” is believed to be very close to the original melody for the epic.

About the genre:
The epic is an ancient genre and is found in almost every culture. It is a long heroic narrative that tells of war and great deeds. Epics are generally composed in verse, and sung from memory or improvised in performance by professional performers with instrumental accompaniment. These narratives are created from traditional elements, commonly without recourse to writing, by poets whose names are often unknown to us. Among the famous traditional epics are the Iliad and the Odyssey, attributed to Homer; the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf; and the Old French Song of Roland. Many known poets adopt epic forms and themes for their literary verse (such as Virgil in his Aeneid).

About the edition/translation:
Das Nibelungenlied: Song of the Nibelungs, trans. Burton Raffel, New Haven, Yale University Press, 2006, pp. 114ff. Note: characters’ names are spelled differently in this translation than they sometimes are. Original: Das Nibelungenlied, ed. Karl Bartsch & Helmut de Boor, trans. Siegfried Grosse, Stuttgart, Reclam, 2003.

About the performer/ensemble:
Sam (Samantha) Erenberger is a Drama student in the Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2010).

About the production:
This performance was created for “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught at New York University by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz, in spring 2010. Sam Erenberger and other students were the videographers.

Karagöz: Karagöz as boatman

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About the scene and clip:
This clip shows a scene from the traditional Turkish puppet shows called Karagöz (the word means “dark eye”). The central and ever-comic stock figure, Karagöz, is usually jobless. In this scene, his friend Hacivat has gotten him a job as a boatman. Karagöz begins to carry people between two places in Istanbul, Eminonu and Kagithane. Several people get on the boat, including the painter Matisse, some Arabs, and other people living in the city. The comic dialogues are based on Karagöz’s misunderstandings and naivety; he confuses the meanings of words. For example, when someone asks how the weather is, he answers, “He is fine, thank you”—thinking that weather is a real person.

Karagöz performances were traditionally one-man shows, where the puppeteer got logistical help from others. This performance used recorded music, but historically one or two musicians provided the music.

About the work:
Karagöz is a kind of shadow puppet theatre, which has been popular for centuries in Turkey. With stock comic characters and rolex oyster perpetual datejust fake plots, Karagöz puppetry was widely comic and satirical; for example, it made fun of all the people living in the city, of the language itself, and of relations between men and women; it also frequently mocked those in power. This sort of shadow puppetry came to Turkey from Egypt around the 16th century (its origins are perhaps Javanese), but the Turkish puppets are unusual in that they are translucent, and brightly and elaborately colored. Puppet shows with brightly colored puppets, plays on language, and strong comic elements were also common in medieval and Early Modern Europe.

About the genre:
Turkish Karagöz were comic performances that created language comedy, often through speech plays, misunderstandings, and miscommunications, and made fun of social rules of propriety, especially between men and women, and satirized those in power and authority. Historically, they had much in common with “Punch and Judy” shows.

Satire generally attacks, often in comic terms, the failings of classes or groups of people, such as those in political power (monarchs and aristocrats), or the clergy, or women; most satire focuses criticism on groups, rather than on individuals. Satire can also mock a political or religious philosophy, or an institution or system.

About the edition/translation:
Each puppeteer has his own versions of Karagöz.

About the performer/ensemble:
Tacettin Diker and his associates, of Istanbul, Turkey, perform traditional Karagöz shadow puppets plays, along with more modern ways of drawing on the art of shadow puppetry.

About the production:
This Karagöz performance, sponsored by the Akbank Karagöz ve Kukla Tiyatrosu, took place at a conference entitled “Performance and Performers in the Eastern Mediterranean from the 11th to the 18th Centuries,” held at Bogazici University, June 7-9, 2007. The conference was organized by Profs. Arzu Ozturkmen of Bogazici University and Timmie Vitz of New York University. It was funded by the Humanities Council of New York University as part of the “Storytelling in Performance” workshop, as well as by Bogazici University and Tübitak. We are grateful to Ulrich Mueller, a member of the website’s Advisory Board, for making the video available to us, and to Tacettin Diker for giving us permission to use this clip.

Rose: Narcissus and Echo-puppets

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About the scene and clip:
The solo performer tells through shadow puppets, and with recorded music, the story of Narcissus and Echo. This story, taken from classical myth, is written on the Fountain.

About the work:
The Romance of the Rose is arguably the most influential French work of the Middle Ages. This work is a romance, composed in verse and treating of love. But it is a highly unusual romance in many regards. The Rose introduced into romance a set of major allegorical figures such as Love, Reason, and Danger; it established the popularity of the dream vision; and it launched a new fashion in pseudo-autobiographical narrative. The first 4000 lines (in octosyllabic rhymed couplets) were written by Guillaume de Lorris around 1230. This strongly lyrical part of the romance emphasizes the beauty of the Garden of Love, and the suffering by the Lover in his quest for love; Guillaume’s romance was left unfinished. Around 1280, Jean de Meun completed the work by adding close to 18,000 lines; his lengthy and learned text features speeches delivered by such characters as Reason, the Jealous Husband, the Old Woman, Nature, and Genius.

About the genre:
Medieval romances are typically long narratives of love and adventure in which an aristocratic hero (or occasionally a heroine) proves himself in combat and courtship. Medieval romance arose in France and Anglo-Norman England in the 12th century and spread through Western and even Eastern Europe. Many early romances tell the stories of knights and ladies at King Arthur’s court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, romances are composed in verse (typically octosyllabic rhymed couplets), and are commonly performed aloud from memory by minstrels; romances are also sometimes read aloud. In the 13th century, some romances begin to be written in prose; public and private readings become more frequent.

Allegory is a way of composing and of interpreting texts: characters and the plot point beyond themselves to something “other”—something symbolic. Characters are often personifications of forces such as Love, Pride, Reason, or Friendship. The plot is also symbolic: characters’ struggles are between vices and virtues; their journey may refer to life’s pilgrimage or to the discovery of some great truth, such as the nature of love. Works may be entirely allegorical, or may just contain brief passages written in this mode. Allegorical works are often strongly religious, philosophical, or moral.

About the edition/translation:
Performance abridged from The Romance of the Rose, Harry W. Robbins trans., New York, Dutton, 1962, pp. 29ff; French edition: Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun, Le Roman de la Rose, ed./[Modern French] trans. Armand Strubel, Paris, Lettres Gothiques, 1992.

About the performer/ensemble:
Elizabeth Sprague is a student in Dramatic Literature and in Journalism in the College of Arts and Science at New York University (2005).

About the production:
This performance was created for “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz, in fall 2005. Nitzan Rotschild was the videographer.

Disciplina: Little bird

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About the scene and clip:
The solo performer reads aloud the story of a little bird—a puppet is the bird—and a peasant.

About the work:
This tale comes from the Disciplina clericalis, a collection of tales by a 12th-century Spanish writer, Pedro Alfonso (or Petrus Alphonsus); like many stories in the volume, it is close to the fable tradition since its purpose is to teach wisdom and make fun of foolishness. Recourse to the animal world—here, the wise little bird—also draws it close to the fable tradition. Many medieval versions of this story exist in French and other vernaculars.

About the genre:
Despite the title “lay,” which is sometimes given to it, this story is part of the tale and fable traditions; this sort of story is also called in Latin an “exemplum” because it teaches by example.

This story belongs to the tale tradition. The tale, like the epic, is an ancient genre and one found everywhere in the world. Many tales are firmly rooted in oral tradition and are recited or told by amateur and professional storytellers and performers. Other tales are the work of literarily sophisticated authors and are often intended to be read aloud or silently from written texts. Some tales circulate separately, while others are part of collections, which may be set in complex frames (as in the case of Ovid’sMetamorphoses, Boccaccio’s Decameron and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales). There are many sub-groups of tales with specific characteristics; see for example the “lai” and the “fabliau.”

A fable is a short tale, frequently featuring animals; most fables have a clear moral point, often stated explicitly at the beginning or end. Medieval European fables generally draw heavily on those of Aesop, who in turn was influenced by Indian and other Eastern fables and moral tales.

About the edition/translation:
The Scholar’s Guide: A Translation of the Twelfth-Century Disciplina Clericalis of Pedro Alfonso, tr. Joseph Ramon Jones and John Eston Keller, Toronto, Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies, 1969, pp. 86-7. Original: Petri Alfonsi Disciplina Clericalis, I. Lateinische Text, ed. Alfons Hilka and Werner Söderhjelm, in Acta Societatis Scientiarum Fennicæ 38/4, Helsinfors, 1911.

About the performer/ensemble:
Tiffany Brown is a Drama student in the Stella Adler Studio of Acting at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2006).

About the production:
This performance was created for “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie ( E.B.) Vitz at New York University in fall 2006.

St. Peter and Jongleur: Puppets, 2

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About the scene and clip:
This clip tells one episode from the fabliau: Saint Peter arrives in hell and plays dice with the minstrel. The performer tells the story, with the puppets miming the action.

About the work:
This fabliau tells how Saint Peter rescued all the souls from hell by winning at dice against a bumbling minstrel who had been left in charge while Satan was busy elsewhere; it may well be a parody of the Harrowing of Hell in which Christ rescued the souls of the just from hell.

About the genre:
Fabliaux are short comic tales. This narrative genre was extremely popular in the 13th and 14th centuries in France and elsewhere in Europe (Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale is a sophisticated fabliau). Fabliaux almost invariably deal with the passions of lust, gluttony, avarice–and with attempts to trick or deceive others. Characters are typically bourgeois, clerks and monks, or peasants–and often women. The treatment is comic or satirical. But fabliaux vary considerably. Some are extremely vulgar in language and treatment, inviting crude gestures in performance. Other fabliaux are based on puns or wordplay. Many have a moral at the end and some have ethical overtones throughout. A few fabliaux are refined and courtly in language and themes. Many fabliaux are anonymous, but a few are by known poets. Performance styles and strategies for the fabliaux probably varied considerably in the Middle Ages, according to the subject matter and characters, the poet, the performer(s), the occasion, and the kind of audience present.

About the edition/translation:
Abridged and adapted from Fabliaux, Fair and Foul, trans. John DuVal, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, Binghamton, NY, 1992, p. 133. Old French edition: “St. Pierre et le jongleur,” inNouveau Recueil des Fabliaux, eds. Willem Noomen and Nico van den Boogaard, Assen, Van Gorcum, vol. I, 1983.

About the performer/ensemble:
Emily Rouch is a Drama student at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts (2004).

About the production:
This performance was created for the course “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz at New York University in spring 2004. It took place in an open class held at the Maison Française in April 2004, and was videoed by NYU-TV.

Yvain: Yvain meets the Lion

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About the scene and clip:
In this scene, the hero, Yvain, meets for the first time the lion who will be his constant companion for the remainder of the romance. A puppet expresses the charm and appeal of the lion, despite Yvain’s initial concerns about leonine ferocity.

About the work:
Yvain is one of the five surviving romances by Chrétien de Troyes, who is often considered the father of Arthurian romance. This great work, in octosyllabic rhymed couplets, was composed for Marie, Countess of Champagne, around 1170. The romance recounts the adventures of Yvain, a knight of King Arthur’s court, who wins the beautiful Laudine in marriage (having killed her husband in single combat). He then loses both her love and his honor through his failure to keep a vow to return home from his knightly activities by an agreed-upon date. The second half of the romance is devoted to adventures in which Yvain, accompanied by a lion, creates a new name for himself (the “Knight with the Lion”), recovers his honor through a series of good deeds, and finally wins back his wife.

About the genre:
Medieval romances are typically long narratives of love and adventure in which an aristocratic hero (or occasionally a heroine) proves himself in combat and courtship. Medieval romance arose in France and Anglo-Norman England in the 12th century and spread through Western and even Eastern Europe. Many early romances tell the stories of knights and ladies at King Arthur’s court. In the 12th and 13th centuries, romances are composed in verse (typically octosyllabic rhymed couplets), and are commonly performed aloud from memory by minstrels; romances are also sometimes read aloud. In the 13th century, some romances begin to be written in prose; public and private readings become more frequent.

About the edition/translation:
Abridged from Yvain or The Knight with the Lion, trans. Ruth Harwood Cline, Athens, GA, University of Georgia Press, 1975, pp. 94-96. Old French: Le Chevalier au Lion (Yvain), ed./trans. David F. Hult, inRomans de Chrétien de Troyes, eds./trans. J.M. Fritz et al, Paris, Classiques Modernes/ Livre de Poche, 1994.

About the performer/ensemble:
Jenn Jordan is majoring in Medieval and Renaissance Studies in the College of Arts and Science at New York University (2004).

About the production:
This performance was created as part of an Independent Study with Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in fall 2003. The clip comes from a performance that took place in May 2004 in the Great Hall of 19 University Place, at a public performance. The performance was videoed by NYU-TV.

St. Peter and Jongleur: Puppets, 1

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About the scene and clip:
This clip is a free adaptation of the entire fabliau [see “about the work”], using puppets and contemporary American show-tunes.

About the work:
This fabliau tells how St. Peter rescued all the souls from hell by winning at dice against a bumbling minstrel who had been left in charge while Satan was busy elsewhere; it may well be a parody of the Harrowing of Hell in which Christ rescued the souls of the just from Hell.

About the genre:
Fabliaux are short comic tales. This narrative genre was extremely popular in the 13th and 14th centuries in France and elsewhere in Europe (Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale is a sophisticated fabliau). Fabliaux almost invariably deal with the passions of lust, gluttony, avarice–and with attempts to trick or deceive others. Characters are typically bourgeois, clerks and monks, or peasants–and often women. The treatment is comic or satirical. But fabliaux vary considerably. Some are extremely vulgar in language and treatment, inviting crude gestures in performance. Other fabliaux are based on puns or wordplay. Many have a moral at the end and some have ethical overtones throughout. A few fabliaux are refined and courtly in language and themes. Many fabliaux are anonymous, but a few are by known poets. Performance styles and strategies for the fabliaux probably varied considerably in the Middle Ages, according to the subject matter and characters, the poet, the performer(s), the occasion, and the kind of audience present.

About the edition/translation:
Abridged and adapted from Fabliaux, Fair and Foul, trans. John DuVal, Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, Binghamton, NY, 1992, pp. 130-139; French edition: “St. Pierre et le jongleur,” inNouveau Recueil des Fabliaux, eds. Willem Noomen and Nico van den Boogaard, Assen: Van Gorcum, Vol. I (1983).

About the performer/ensemble:
Kelly Houlihan graduated in May 2003 from New York University with a major in French.

About the production:
This performance was originally created for “Acting Medieval Literature,” taught by Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in fall 2001. This clip comes from a performance that took place in September 2003 at the Maison Française of New York University at an informal gathering of medievalists held under the auspices of the Colloquium for Orality, Writing and Culture, co-convenors Prof. Nancy Freeman Regalado and Prof. Vitz. The performance was videoed by NYU-TV.

Aucassin: Torelore

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About the scene and clip:
In this episode, the young lovers Aucassin and Nicolette, having fled from home, travel to the land of Torelore where the King lies in childbed and the Queen fights battles in which no one is slain. The performer draws on a blend of cardboard puppets, illustrations, a book, contemporary recorded music, and a cell phone.

About the work:
Aucassin and Nicolette: This charming work, composed by an anonymous poet around 1200, is the only surviving example of the “chantefable”: it is partly in prose, to be spoken; partly in verse, with assonanced rolex day date m128348rbr 0017 36mm uomini guadare lines of 7-syllables, to be sung. Aucassin and Nicolette reflects a thorough-going familiarity with the genres of the period, such as epic, romance, saint’s life, and lyric song–and a light-hearted parodic attitude toward them all.

About the genre:
See “About the work” (above).

About the edition/translation:
Abridged from Aucassin and Nicolette and Other Medieval Romances and Tales, trans. Eugene Mason, New York, Dutton, 1958, pp. 30-35. Original text: Aucassin et Nicolette, ed./[Modern French] trans. Jean Dufournet, Paris, Garnier-Flammarion, 1973.

About the performer/ensemble:
Jenn Jordan is an undergraduate student in the College of Arts and Science at New York University, majoring in Medieval and Renaissance Studies (2003).

About the production:
This performance was created as part of an Independent Study with Prof. Timmie (E.B.) Vitz in fall 2003. The clip comes from a performance that took place in November 2003 at the Maison Francaise of New York University at a Roundtable on “New Perspectives on Medieval Narrative,” sponsored by the Colloquium on Orality, Writing and Culture, co-convenors Prof. Nancy Freeman Regalado and Prof. Vitz. The performance was videoed by NYU-TV.