Several centuries ago, many Venetian palaces would house a private puppet theatre for rod marionettes (French: marionnettes à tringle). However, these could wind up unused for most of the time, and would have the effect of limiting the creative aspect by confining the puppet to only one technique and only one type of manipulation – usually operated from below, and most particularly that of glove puppetry. These puppet stages can be installed in classrooms, libraries, halls, or living rooms, and can be constructed from an immovable, hard material.
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Thus affecting the kind of puppet stage that would house such a show.Īs mentioned above, there are several types of puppet stages: permanent stages, portable stages, and stages that can be disassembled. The public’s taste in France, for example, also changed away from the Polichinelle rod marionette (French: marionnette à tringle) and towards the Guignol glove puppet. The castelet thus became its replica in miniature. Later, in France as elsewhere, it was of the utmost importance that these small puppet theatre stages resemble as closely as possible the larger theatres, with an Italian style stage (see Décor / Stage Setting and the Italian-style Stage). The back of the castelet as shown in these miniatures is formed by a low arch as the manipulators, undoubtedly hidden under the playboard (French: tablette), are concealed by a curtain. However, judging from Middle Age imagery, “ castelet” found its origin due to its appearance as a castle with battlements as seen in the two miniatures by Jehan de Grise ( Li Romans du boin roi Alixandre, 1344). The French word “ castelet” is derived from “ castel” and has been associated with the meaning of “little puppet theatre” only since 1907. Other performance sites where puppet shows were performed dating from the 19th century were fairground theatre (French: théâtre foraines) and taverns (French: “ estaminets à marionettes”) where successful plays from the actors’ theatre were adapted for puppets. These changes in the venues were reflected in the terms favoured over time for their use: “tabernacles”, “ retables” or altarpieces, “ crèches” or cribs and Nativity scenes, “mansions”, “ tréteaux”, trestles or “the boards”, baraques foraines or portable fairground booths, and “ castelets”, the generic term used in Francophone countries. Indeed, puppetry, with its rebellious tendencies, was first relegated from inside the church to its courtyard and then to the fairgrounds, due to its insolent, if not blasphemous predisposition. The puppet stage evolved in style and shape over time as a result of changes in the religious status of puppets in European culture.
The word “ castelet” is the French term for a theatre structure where puppetry is performed, and it can also be a more substantial structure than the booth. Its secondary meaning, more specific to puppets, is that of a portable stage such as is used for Punch and Judy or Guignol. In a theatrical sense “booth” generally means a temporary structure in which performances can take place. It is cognate with the English word “abode”. The English term booth, for instance, is a relatively temporary structure erected for a purpose. They can be grand or humble or anything in between. Puppet stages can be fixed, permanent structures or portable frameworks that can be disassembled. Theatre structure specifically designed for puppetry.
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