Editing Puppetry (section)

====Great Britain====
[[File:Burattini ca 1770.jpg|thumb|180px|British puppet theatre (Punch and Judy style), {{Circa|1770}}]]
The traditional British ''[[Punch and Judy]]'' puppetry traces its roots to the 16th century to the Italian [[commedia dell'arte]].<ref name="binyon">Binyon, Helen, ''Puppetry Today'', p.36</ref> The character of "Punch" derives from the character [[Pulcinella]], which was Anglicized to ''Punchinello''. He is a manifestation of the [[Lord of Misrule]] and [[Trickster]], figures of deep-rooted mythologies. Punch's wife was originally "Joan", but later became "Judy". In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the familiar ''Punch and Judy'' puppet show which existed in Britain was performed in an easily transportable [[:wikt:booth|booth]]. The British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild in the early 20th century instigated a resurgence of puppetry. Two of the Guild's founders, H. W. Whanslaw and [[Waldo Lanchester]], both worked to promote and develop puppetry with publications of books and literature, mainly focusing on the art of the marionette. Lanchester had a touring theatre and a permanent venue in [[Malvern, Worcestershire]], regularly taking part in the Malvern Festival and attracting the attention of [[George Bernard Shaw]]. One of Shaw's last plays, ''[[Shakes versus Shav]]'', was written for and first performed in 1949 by the company.{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}}

From 1957 to 1969, [[Gerry Anderson]] produced many television series starring marionettes, starting with [[Roberta Leigh]]'s ''[[The Adventures of Twizzle]]'' and ending with ''[[The Secret Service]]''. Many of these series (the most famous of which was ''[[Thunderbirds (TV series)|Thunderbirds]]'') employed a technique called [[Supermarionation]], which automatically synchronized the pre-recorded character dialogue to the puppets' mouth movements. Anderson returned to puppetry in 1983 with ''[[Terrahawks]]'' and the unaired [[Pilot episode|pilot]] ''[[Space Precinct#Pilot|Space Police]]'' in 1987.

Current British puppetry theatres include the [[Little Angel Theatre]] in [[Islington]], London, [[Puppet Theatre Barge]] in London, [[Norwich Puppet Theatre]], the [[Harlequin Puppet Theatre]], [[Rhos-on-Sea]], Wales, and the Biggar Puppet Theatre, [[Biggar, Lanarkshire]], [[Scotland]]. British puppetry now covers a wide range of styles and approaches. There are also a number of British theatre companies, including [[Horse and Bamboo Theatre]], and [[Green Ginger]], which integrate puppetry into highly visual productions. From 1984 to 1996, puppetry was used as a vehicle for political [[satire]] in the British television series ''[[Spitting Image]]''. Puppetry has also been influencing mainstream theatre, and several recent productions combine puppetry with live action, including ''[[War Horse (play)|Warhorse]]'', at the [[Royal National Theatre]] and ''[[Madama Butterfly|Madam Butterfly]]'' at the [[English National Opera]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2008}}