What a ventriloquist's hand puppet needs
When you perform as a ventriloquist, the audience watches the figure's lips, not yours. With a movable mouth, the figure can cut you off at exactly the wrong moment.
Most of the large people also have a hand you can work, and on stage the hand matters almost as much as the mouth. The figure can rest its chin on that hand or clap it over its mouth after a cheeky remark. When things get too much, the figure sticks its tongue out at you. For a double act, choose a character who likes to answer back, perhaps a child who has no time for homework.
Where the large figures work
Large hand puppets for adults don't need a stage. They are just as useful in everyday sessions with a group. Grandmother is a natural at nursery breakfast: she wants to know whose birthday it is and gets the singing started. Mathilda shows a primary class what belongs in a pencil case, and in speech therapy Peterchen says a tricky word first so the child can repeat it. With an elderly group, Grandfather asks what dances were like when they were young. Schoolchildren can also perform with the figures themselves, for example in a drama project or at the end-of-year show.
One figure, many roles
Living Puppets makes its own outfits for this size, including a chef's set, a doctor's coat and police and firefighter sets. They only fit figures that can be undressed completely, which is true of most large figures; on Lotta and Ilselotte Keksberg only some items come off. In a chef's jacket and hat, a figure stirs the pot at a nursery party, and as Santa Claus it hands out the presents at Christmas. If you perform for the same audience again and again, one change of clothes turns a familiar figure into a new act. The "Clothing/accessories for" filter shows which sets suit the large figures.
Which large figure suits you
- What role should it play? Grandparents bring stories from the old days; the children's characters bring scenes from break time and the classroom. For a ventriloquist routine, first decide what you want to talk about. With Katie Kickflip, that might be her latest skateboard trick.
- How often will it change clothes? If you plan lots of roles, pick a figure whose clothes come off completely.
- Where will it appear? At nursery, a large figure can stay with the group all year and say goodbye to the children starting school in the summer.
- Who else plays along? For a show with Grandmother and Grandfather, two people take one figure each, or you switch between them yourself.