Periodic Reporting for period 4 - PuppetPlays (Reappraising Western European Repertoires for Puppet and Marionette Theatres)
Berichtszeitraum: 2024-04-01 bis 2025-09-30
The PuppetPlays project aimed at reconsidering the historiography of Western European puppetry by examining neglected and largely unpublished sources, specifically texts written for puppet theatre from the 17th century to the present day.
Its core objectives were:
• to compile and provide access to a corpus of representative texts which document the international development of this theatre form;
• to identify the specifics of these texts and their variations according to period, cultural area, conditions of production, and targeted audience;
• to reassess the contribution of these repertoires to the construction of European cultural identity.
To achieve these goals, the project led by the PI was supported by a dedicated team including a research engineer, a computer engineer (September 2020-March 2022), then a digital humanities engineer (August 2023-September 2025), and a part-time administrative and communication assistant. The initiative also fostered research through two doctoral and eight postdoctoral contracts, supervised interns and Master's students, and hosted international researchers. A bilingual (French/English) digital platform, developed by subcontractors and accessible at https://puppetplays.eu(öffnet in neuem Fenster) features a relational database with nearly a thousand entries, an anthology, project publications, and educational resources.
Its core objectives were:
• to compile and provide access to a corpus of representative texts which document the international development of this theatre form;
• to identify the specifics of these texts and their variations according to period, cultural area, conditions of production, and targeted audience;
• to reassess the contribution of these repertoires to the construction of European cultural identity.
To achieve these goals, the project led by the PI was supported by a dedicated team including a research engineer, a computer engineer (September 2020-March 2022), then a digital humanities engineer (August 2023-September 2025), and a part-time administrative and communication assistant. The initiative also fostered research through two doctoral and eight postdoctoral contracts, supervised interns and Master's students, and hosted international researchers. A bilingual (French/English) digital platform, developed by subcontractors and accessible at https://puppetplays.eu(öffnet in neuem Fenster) features a relational database with nearly a thousand entries, an anthology, project publications, and educational resources.
Through international expeditions, donations and downloads from digital portals, the research team collected and expertised textual traces of thousands of theatrical works, ranging from a few lines of synopsis to cycles of 80 or 100 episodes. Significant disparities in the preservation of works from popular traditions urged to develop tailored strategies. While France and Italy possess rich manuscript collections, and Germany has published many works, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal have limited traces, largely due to oral transmission. The project's strategy was therefore to be exhaustive in its coverage of repertoires prior to 1800 and to provide representative samples from later periods in the PuppetPlays digital platform.
PuppetPlays has achieved significant milestones. In terms of scientific publications, all of which are in Gold, Diamond, or Green Open Access, PI Didier Plassard's monograph, Puppetry and Dramaturgy. Western European Plays for Puppet Theatre, 1582–2020, was published by Palgrave Macmillan & Cham / Springer Nature (2025). Francesca Di Fazio's doctoral thesis, La Marionnette et son drame, defended in 2022, was published by Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée (2025). Sophie Courtade's doctoral thesis, Le Théâtre d’ombres en Europe de l’Ouest, 1770-1920, was defended in 2025. Additionally, a special journal issue titled ‘Shakespeare and Puppets,’ edited by Carole Guidicelli and Cécile Decaix, was published in Cahiers élisabéthains (SAGE) in July 2025. The research team also published 24 peer-reviewed articles or book chapters. The team organized two international conferences (Literary writing for puppets and marionettes in Western Europe, 2021, and Portrait of the Puppeteer as Author, 2023) and a national conference (Guignol dans le texte, Lyon, 2024). Video recordings of these conferences are available on the PuppetPlays digital platform and on Nakala repository (Huma-Num), and proceedings are being published.
Furthermore, the team paid close attention to promoting the project and disseminating its results through a variety of means: organising public events (project presentations, round tables, workshops, ‘facebook-live events’) in academic and non-academic venues (theatres, museum); participating in national and international symposiums or public meetings at festivals; giving lectures and presentations at professional seminars. During the global health crisis, a seminar, lectures and round table discussions were organised on line. 18 articles have been published in magazines for puppetry (in French, English, German, Spanish, and Portuguese), or in publications for the general public (exhibition catalogue, commemorative books). A monthly newsletter (with over 600 subscribers) and social media posts enabled an international audience to be regularly updated on the project's progress.
PuppetPlays has achieved significant milestones. In terms of scientific publications, all of which are in Gold, Diamond, or Green Open Access, PI Didier Plassard's monograph, Puppetry and Dramaturgy. Western European Plays for Puppet Theatre, 1582–2020, was published by Palgrave Macmillan & Cham / Springer Nature (2025). Francesca Di Fazio's doctoral thesis, La Marionnette et son drame, defended in 2022, was published by Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée (2025). Sophie Courtade's doctoral thesis, Le Théâtre d’ombres en Europe de l’Ouest, 1770-1920, was defended in 2025. Additionally, a special journal issue titled ‘Shakespeare and Puppets,’ edited by Carole Guidicelli and Cécile Decaix, was published in Cahiers élisabéthains (SAGE) in July 2025. The research team also published 24 peer-reviewed articles or book chapters. The team organized two international conferences (Literary writing for puppets and marionettes in Western Europe, 2021, and Portrait of the Puppeteer as Author, 2023) and a national conference (Guignol dans le texte, Lyon, 2024). Video recordings of these conferences are available on the PuppetPlays digital platform and on Nakala repository (Huma-Num), and proceedings are being published.
Furthermore, the team paid close attention to promoting the project and disseminating its results through a variety of means: organising public events (project presentations, round tables, workshops, ‘facebook-live events’) in academic and non-academic venues (theatres, museum); participating in national and international symposiums or public meetings at festivals; giving lectures and presentations at professional seminars. During the global health crisis, a seminar, lectures and round table discussions were organised on line. 18 articles have been published in magazines for puppetry (in French, English, German, Spanish, and Portuguese), or in publications for the general public (exhibition catalogue, commemorative books). A monthly newsletter (with over 600 subscribers) and social media posts enabled an international audience to be regularly updated on the project's progress.
The Project has accurately mapped puppet writing in Western Europe and its evolution from the late 16th century to the present day. It successfully compiled a corpus of nearly a thousand texts, meticulously detailed in the database (French version complete, English version currently undergoing translation). This database features enriched metadata and original content, with links to full texts provided where available. Sample texts not readily accessible but in the public domain are included in the digital anthology, transcribed and encoded using TEI standards. A significant achievement of the project was the recovery and online availability of the oldest known text for puppets, a German adaptation of the Book of Jonah (1582), lost since 1945.
The project's ouputs identified specific features of puppet dramaturgy. Some of these relate to theatrical techniques (metamorphoses, apparitions, doubling), while others concern specific developments of literary registers (farce, grotesque, fantasy). The research emphasized the significance of visual dramaturgy, a defining feature of contemporary puppetry. Additionally, it explored various genres, including military dramas, news stories, lives of saints or bandits, and performance contexts like daily episodes within long epic cycles. The prominent role of non-human characters (animals, natural elements, imaginary beings, abstractions) was also documented. Furthermore, the project recorded the rise of puppet theatre for children, and its use for educational purposes as well as for propaganda under totalitarian regimes.
The project reassessed puppetry's contribution to European cultural identity by demonstrating how itinerant puppeteers fostered a shared system of cultural references across language barriers, national borders, and social strata. This cultural exchange is evidenced by the circulation of scenarios for characters like Pulcinella, Polichinelle, Punch, Kasperl, and Jan Klaassen across Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Furthermore, the research illuminated the international dissemination and transformation of stories such as Saint Anthony the Great, Geneviève of Brabant, Faust, and Don Juan, as well as the enduring influence of Shakespeare’s canon in puppet theatre to this day.
By examining the history of puppet theatre in relation to the history of theatre, this project investigated the relevance of conventional theatrical periodization to this specific performing art. The findings revealed a multiplicity of performance contexts that defy linear historical narratives and only partially correspond to existing theatrical categories. Puppet theatres were found to both emulate actor-based traditions and serve as repositories for forgotten theatrical forms or precursors to later innovations. In this light, PuppetPlays represents a crucial advancement in the current renewal of Western theatre historiography, moving beyond literary frameworks to embrace the rich diversity of performance contexts. Besides, PuppetPlays has fostered a new international dynamic, urging cultural institutions to digitize and promote their textual archives. It has promoted best practices and provided tools for expertise and visibility of this heritage.
The project's ouputs identified specific features of puppet dramaturgy. Some of these relate to theatrical techniques (metamorphoses, apparitions, doubling), while others concern specific developments of literary registers (farce, grotesque, fantasy). The research emphasized the significance of visual dramaturgy, a defining feature of contemporary puppetry. Additionally, it explored various genres, including military dramas, news stories, lives of saints or bandits, and performance contexts like daily episodes within long epic cycles. The prominent role of non-human characters (animals, natural elements, imaginary beings, abstractions) was also documented. Furthermore, the project recorded the rise of puppet theatre for children, and its use for educational purposes as well as for propaganda under totalitarian regimes.
The project reassessed puppetry's contribution to European cultural identity by demonstrating how itinerant puppeteers fostered a shared system of cultural references across language barriers, national borders, and social strata. This cultural exchange is evidenced by the circulation of scenarios for characters like Pulcinella, Polichinelle, Punch, Kasperl, and Jan Klaassen across Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries. Furthermore, the research illuminated the international dissemination and transformation of stories such as Saint Anthony the Great, Geneviève of Brabant, Faust, and Don Juan, as well as the enduring influence of Shakespeare’s canon in puppet theatre to this day.
By examining the history of puppet theatre in relation to the history of theatre, this project investigated the relevance of conventional theatrical periodization to this specific performing art. The findings revealed a multiplicity of performance contexts that defy linear historical narratives and only partially correspond to existing theatrical categories. Puppet theatres were found to both emulate actor-based traditions and serve as repositories for forgotten theatrical forms or precursors to later innovations. In this light, PuppetPlays represents a crucial advancement in the current renewal of Western theatre historiography, moving beyond literary frameworks to embrace the rich diversity of performance contexts. Besides, PuppetPlays has fostered a new international dynamic, urging cultural institutions to digitize and promote their textual archives. It has promoted best practices and provided tools for expertise and visibility of this heritage.