Puppetry Types: Pageant Puppets

Rooted in the Medieval and Renaissance Pageants, these incredible and oftentimes larger-than-life puppets and costumes found their niche in political theatre, particularly protest marches and assemblies.

Bread and Puppet is perhaps the best known troupe that utilizes this form. Here is a vintage clip from a 1967 protest held in Washington D.C.

The performance cuts off at the title card, and continues from 4:30 to 4:45.


Wow! Even at this scale, note how articulate the puppets are. Very precise movements and eye-focus add up to an effective illusion of life.

Here's a more recent example of pageant puppetry, just to give you an idea of how big these puppets can be:



This puppet was built by Andrew Kim, a fascinating artist who now lives in England. More samples of his work can be found here.