Puppetry isn't just about kids being entertained by the antics of Punch and Judy – some of it is edgy enough to be for adults only, writes SARA KEATING

PUPPETRY GIVES us the world in miniature, a universe in our likeness in which none of the normal rules apply. It is an art form as old as the theatre itself. In ancient Greece, where the dramatic spectacle as we know it was invented, the actors themselves were described as puppets, figures whose movements were controlled by someone else: the master playwright, or occasionally the gods. Aristotle, the philosopher who defined tragedy and comedy for us, saw in puppets “a reflection of oneself”. However, there is little evidence that he understood the art form the way we do today, where puppetry has penetrated culture so completely to have almost disappeared inside its digital, animated contemporary form.

The first puppets formed part of religious rituals in tribal cultures, where masks with hinged jaws and jointed skulls were given embodied form and moving limbs, and would be animated by strings, rods or hands to perform in ceremonial dances. They might be made from terracotta, as in ancient Egypt, and buried with corpses to provide company in death. Or from stretched donkey or sheep’s skin, as in ancient China, where a new form of puppetry emerged. This was shadow puppetry, where cut-out figures were placed between a source of light and a translucent screen, so that the shadow of the figures appeared clearly to the audience on the other side. Although only two-dimensional, layers and depth could be shaped from the silhouettes, which were used primarily for silent storytelling that could transcend cultural and linguistic divides as global trade routes began to open up.

These two predominant traditions of puppetry have been adapted over thousands of years to provide us with the plethora of puppet forms that still exist today. They evolved into the crude marionettes of the Middle Ages, which were used to spread religious doctrine, and the seventeenth-century hand-puppeting tradition that gave us Punch and Judy. In the late 19th and 20th century, when the machine challenged man, they became part of the human body itself: the chin-face puppet is drawn on or attached to the face; you slide finger puppets on to the digits of your hand.

Puppets are now acceptably constructed from household materials in object puppetry, which has domesticated the art and brought it closer to clowning: find a wooden spoon, a kitchen pot – anything, really – and you have a potential miniature theatre of your own. Ask the Companie du Petit Monde, who demonstrate their domestic artistry this week at the Dublin Puppet Festival.

As this potted history suggests, puppetry has evolved from a position of spiritual and cultural importance to a field of artistic play. Yet while the small scale and capacity for imaginative play might seem to cater to the imaginative tendencies of children, puppetry has also always been deeply subversive. Puppetry might give us the world in miniature, but there are none of the governing social structures by which human behaviour is constrained, and in adult puppetry – still prominent in Eastern Europe and re-emerging in the UK – puppets are used for social satire and social critique.

Indeed the belligerent Punch, perhaps the most famous puppet of them all, became the archetype of political puppetry. Adapted from the Italian harlequin tradition (the pulcinella figure), he is a Lord of Misrule; a trickster character who turns all social hierarchies on their heads.

Punch made his first appearance in England in 1662 and by the 1700s, he was such a popular character that in Dublin a new theatre was built in his honour. Stretch's Marionette Theatre opened on Capel Street in 1721 and Punch was the resident star. The satirist Jonathan Swift was a regular visitor; is it mere coincidence that Gulliver's Travelspresents a world of puppet-sized scale? Indeed, Punchbecame so synonymous with political subversion that the infamous Victorian satirical magazine Punchtook its name from the free-speaking hand-puppet. Punchhas permeated puppetry throughout Europe too: he is Petruschka in Russia and Mester Jakel in Denmark. He was the inspiration for the French Grand Guignol.

This Sunday is International Punch Day, and at the Dublin Puppet Festival, four different Punches will appear in four different guises, causing, as is typical, maximum mayhem.

In Ireland, it has been the Lambert family who have been largely responsible for keeping the tradition of puppetry alive. Eugene Lambert’s memorable marionettes dominated children’s television throughout the 1970s and 1980s, while the Lambert’s regular weekend puppet shows in Monkstown have animated traditional fairytales for decades. However, as founders of the International Puppet Festival in 1981 – renamed the Dublin Puppet Festival this year – they have also been keeping alive the more avant-garde tradition of puppetry for adult audiences, inviting international artists of the highest calibre to perform their experimental routines; from shows so small they had to be watched through opera-glasses to puppetry so subversive the curtain won’t rise until after 9pm.

Tucked away in the tiny theatre in Monkstown, the yearly celebration has always seemed a niche affair, but the decision to move the festival to the city centre, with an expanded number of free events, looks set to change that. As the outrageous trickster Punch would say: “Huzzah! Huzzah!”

The Dublin Puppet Festival runs until Sunday with events at The Lambert Puppet Theatre in Monkstown, Project Arts Centre, Wolfe Tone Square, and throughout Dublin city. For a full programme see puppetfest.ie

Dublin Puppet Festival: What to see

Family Fun

Little Red Riding Hood

Join the Lamberts at their seaside home as they expertly enliven a traditional fairy tale. Expect Punch and Judy as well as the Big Bad Wolf to make a guest appearance.

Toc Toque

Be inspired to make your own puppet show by the Company du Petit Monde, who create a whole new world of creativity in the kitchen.

Adults Only

The Seas of Organillo

A wacky womb-like world is on offer in this British production, in which puppets wade through the dark corners of a Freudian sea. With electro-acoustic music and an edgy visual style, this performance is a total theatrical experience.

What to See for Free

Le Grande Theatre Mechanique

A genuine 700-seat miniature theatre has room for just 10 more guests. First filled in 1900, this cute little puppet play about the theatre has been providing audiences with inside jokes for more than a century.

Wanderly Wagon

Travel back in time to your 1970s childhood, by paying a visit to the iconic caravan, which will fly into Wolfe Tone Park later this week. Get reacquainted with Judge, Mr Crow and Sneaky the Snake, some of Eugene Lambert’s finest creations.

Stop

In Wolfe Tone Park this weekend, Hungarian puppeteer Andres Lenart brings clowns, dolphins and - intriguingly - a miniature ballerina who will dance on the hands of audience members.