Gordon Craig`s "über-marionette" concept as an expressive means of a puppet theatre

Abstract

Purpose of the article. To study the process of the emergence of stage truth in the live-action puppet art. To define the peculiarity of creating stage truth by the expressive means of the puppet theatre. To analyze the theoretical works by Gordon Craig concerning the aesthetic concept of "über-marionette". To designate the ways of realization of stage truth in puppet theatre with the help of Gordon Craig`s "über-marionette" concept. Methodology of the research consists in the application of methods of system analysis, analogy, comparison, and opposition to analyze the "über-marionette" concept in comparative description with the expressive means and aesthetic principles of the live-action puppet art. The scientific novelty of the article is in the view on the nature of stage truth, in considering Gordon Craig`s "über-marionette" concept in the context of psychophysical image creation in puppet theatre and in searching for the ways to realize stage truth of puppet theatre in the context of new puppeteer`s artistic techniques. Conclusions. A live-action puppet, regardless of its system, genre restrictions, and movement characteristics, obeys its own conventional truth. The Puppeteer has Gordon Craig's stage truth. Gordon Craig in his theory of the "über-marionette" substantiated a new kind of stage truth needed by the puppeteer. Thanks to it the puppeteer can transform in his own way and even identify himself with the doll image. However, Craig did not elaborate on the actor's practice of achieving such stage truth. Guided by his theoretical works, one can only make an assumption about the practical implementation of the "über-marionette" theory in the stage practice of the live-action puppet art.