Main forms of puppets

A figure, usually human or animal, moved by human agency, used in a theatrical show. Puppets are thus to be distinguished from dolls, clockwork automata, and other toys. They come in several varieties: glove or hand puppets are hollow bodies, usually made of cloth, into which the performer inserts a hand, with the fingers and thumb manipulating the usually wooden head and hands; marionettes are full-length figures moved from above by strings or wires; rod puppets are large, and manipulated by rods to the head and hands; shadow puppets, common in Java, Bali, and Thailand, are flat figures held between a light and a translucent screen. There are many other less familiar types, for instance living marionettes; bodies attached to the actual head of the performer, with either legs or arms manipulated by rods from behind; and ‘held’ puppets — figures carried about by one or several operators, like the characters in Japanese Bunraku theatre.

The origins of puppetry lie with ritu