The Research Commission is currently accepting proposals for articles for the next issue of Puppet Notebook. The Spring/Summer 2021 issue will be on Isolation/Hope.

Puppetry, like all the theatre arts, has suffered during the pandemic: engagement with a live audience is a vital part of the practice, and a major or sole income stream for many practitioners.

Yet the art form is in some ways very well placed to cope with the enforced isolation of this time: perhaps more so than any other strand of performance, puppet work is frequently a solo art, created, devised and rehearsed in isolation. The idea of the puppeteer as ‘demiurge’ – as the solitary, god-like mind behind the creation of a world and the peopling of it – is embedded in the history of the form.

Articles might explore –

• Companies (such as Noisy Oyster) that have managed to put on socially-distanced performances
• Arts Council funding and what individual artists/companies have done with it to keep creating during the pandemic 
• The free online workshops that PUK has been running for its members
• Companies making use of online tools to keep reaching their audiences –  live Zoom performances and workshops, pre-recorded workshops
• Creative packs for families during the lockdown and artists/companies that used puppetry to help parents with home schooling while schools were closed 

Articles could take the form of a personal insight or experience, an interview with a practitioner, or a critical exploration of historical or contemporary puppet practice and reception. We are hoping to have a balance of articles, from the perspective both of practitioners and of viewers. Additionally we invite reviews of recent productions and books dealing with puppetry more broadly.

Submission guidelines: 2,000 words for articles and essays (though this is negotiable), 500 – 1,000 words for production and book reviews. Please contact editor-in-chief Tim Butler Garrett as soon as possible at tbutlergarrett@hotmail.com to discuss proposals. The deadline for completed articles will be the 20th February 2021.

Puppet Notebook contains news, features, reviews and interviews on puppets and animation in theatre, film and art around the world. Each issue has specially commissioned photographs, drawings and articles from international correspondents, as well as a diary of forthcoming performances and workshops.

Puppet Notebook is published twice a year. It is available from selected bookshops and theatres, and is sent free to members of British UNIMA.