The Learned Rabbit, the hero of a puppet-play that was based on a well-known children’s book. This hand and stock-puppet was made for the famous Polish (Warsaw) puppet-theater “ARLEQUIN” before 1975. Previous in RC Collection. Was donated to the Museum Kolong Tangga in 2007. The Rabbit is now a part of the museum’s puppetry collection. The Rabbit character is around 30 cm high, made of felt with a Dacron-filling. What makes this puppet so unique, is the manner in which this puppet is handled. It’s at the same time a stick-puppet and a glove-puppet. The shortness of the sticks is due to Arlequin theater’s new concept about “How close to the children can we bring our puppet alive?” Naturally, the Learned Rabbit is the hero of a puppet-play for very young children. This form of puppet-play demands the puppet-players, to be a puppet-player and a storyteller at the same time, a wonderful idea of close interaction with the children/public. The reality of the close presence of the performer, the man who brings life to the puppet and speaks almost personally to you, isn’t a problem for the children, effortlessly, they make the puppet-man a part of their reality. A reality which is based and influenced by that, what happens (to the characters) in that play. For obvious reasons, was this new manner of performing a puppet-play soon accepted, not only by puppet-players but by kindergarten-folks and school teachers as well. Today everybody is accustomed to this kind of small theater/drama form. However such a play-technique was unknown to most puppeteers, before 1975.
The Learned Rabbit
The Learned Rabbit, the hero of a puppet-play that was based on a well-known children’s book. This hand and stock-puppet was made for the famous Polish (Warsaw) puppet-theater “ARLEQUIN” before 1975. Previous in RC Collection. Was donated to the Museum Kolong Tangga in 2007. The Rabbit is now a part of the museum’s puppetry collection.
