ABSTRACT Title of Dissertation: THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF ...

emphasis on his superb cranial index. Make Flax-hair all big-eyed beauty, but
crown her with a mop like a football chrysanthemum. Give Knobbly a profile
like a Galahad […], but specialize on kneecaps that stick out like motorhoods.
Simple, emphatic lines building up to a major trait will help to establish clearly
not only the identity of your characters but their moral codes. 187
Hastings went on to argue that the puppeteer should suggest the general emotional state
of the character when carving/painting its face. A generally bloodthirsty, raging giant
can be made to laugh when the puppeteer turns its back to the audience and shakes its
shoulders. Hastings advocated an approach to puppetry that combines both nonrealistic
exaggeration in construction and realistic touches in performance.
As a director, she blended atomization by splitting voice actor from puppeteer,
careful selection of character-specific actors, and ceremonial realism in manipulation.
Hastings sought professional actors for her company. Auditions consisted of singing,
voice acting, and marionette manipulation, in the stated order. If an actor could not sing,
he/she was asked to leave. If an actor could sing, but was unable to embed her/his voice
with appropriate characterization, that actor was asked to leave. Only when the actor
proved capable of the first two requirements was he/she invited to show off puppet
skills. 188 Thus, Hastings integrated two contradictory elements, actors whose voices fit,
in a realistic sense, the appropriate puppet character, and the markedly antirealistic
division between puppeteer and speaker. To this already messy blend, Hastings added
stylized movement. She advised the puppeteer to emphatically shake the hand, and jostle
187 Ibid., 32.
188
Dorlis M. Grubidge, Sue Hastings: Puppet Showwoman (North Vancouver: Charlemagne
Press, 1993), 65-66.
145