TATIANA BOTCHAROVA

“Puppetry is an ancient art of making creations that can reach people’s hearts and minds.”

Tatiana Botcharova (50) has vivid and happy memories of a puppet theatre in her southern Russian hometown of Krasnodar: “It was a real one with a large scene, in a two-storey building. The first visit was organised by the school when I was around seven years old. Some professionally made puppets that were out of use were exhibited in the hall and entrance of the theatre – I still remember those fantastic characters.”

A linguist and English teacher by profession, Botcharova has been living in Baabda for many years. Never able to break the spell puppets put on her as a young girl, she also completed a four-year course in visual arts at the School of Arts for Children and Youth in Krasnodar and has been responsible for projecting and creating puppets as well as accessories and scenery backgrounds for Les Amis des Marionnettes since 2000.

“I received the basic knowledge and skills on many media – including sculpturing and papier maché at our art school, as well as the artistic taste and a certain perspective on expressive means in general,” she explained. “The puppets were Tamara Keldany’s idea and it has been a great pleasure for me to join the process of creating a play as a creative manufacturer.”

“From the very beginning we agreed on figurative style – meaning that the puppets would look like living beings – not a bucket with eyes pretending to be a king,” Botcharova explained.

“The puppet head and maybe hands are the most expressive parts of it. Over the years, we have been experimenting with different media, starting with orthodox clay under papier maché and trying different supports for the structure: cardboard, bottles and even self-hardening isolation for the construction.

For our latest creations, we have reached an optimal structure to manipulate, which is very light in weight and robust for the head. It features a polystyrene core with glued fabric above, using plastic tubes instead of wood.

“I can make different kinds of puppets, with the exception of string puppets – though I have made some. I still believe the “biomechanics” of a string puppet structure requires more study to move them naturally and effortlessly.”

“I started with the simplest glove puppets – there was some evolution in this field. Then there was a period of making more rod puppets, which we still make. They have the advantage of being big in size and very present in the scenery.”

The type of puppets Botcharova makes greatly depends on their use in a specific project. While she created “table puppets” – full body figurines manipulated from the handle behind the body, for a play “Stories of our Village”, she conceived “flat” – cardboard characters – with some “freedom of manipulation” with rods for the troupe’s production “The Queen of Colours” [La Reine des Couleurs].

 “Besides, we often use “shadow” puppets – of different sizes, colourful or not, usually made of cardboard. They have various effects and “freedom of manipulation”, reminding the audience of “magic lantern” or basic animation films.”

“Each kind of puppet has its specific expressive means – its shape, accents, grotesque details – all this aims at the accentuation of the general impression made by this character.”

Botcharova is mostly busy with manufacturing. “During my active participation in the performances – I usually manipulate “mute” puppets and elaborate the expressiveness through the movement alone.”

Botcharova believes that puppets have a magic impact on human beings.  “They refer to the ancient magic rituals when divinities, spirits and concepts were materialised through anthropomorphic representation. Puppets can be an efficient way to build up a scenery – the grotesque aspect of the characters’ appearances and the play produce strong emotional responses from the “basic repertoire” of human emotions, which refers to our own experience of playing with dolls during childhood.”

The set artist and puppet maker, pointed out that the humoristic and symbolic way of presenting ideas with puppets allows to convince through laughter and by doing so, avoid moralisation. “It is the same subtle way as teaching children through situational reasoning that exists in traditional fairy tales. As Marx said: “With laughter humanity says goodbye to its past.” 

Though her work is based in Lebanon, Botcharova observes with big interest what she refers to as the “exotic” traditions of puppet theatre, for example Chinese and Japanese: “They had another concept of theatre – the stories had an internal algorithm, symbolism. This was supposed to create a predictable effect on the audience, an expected transformation. The spectators left the theatre with a different mind-set – as if tuned to beauty, virtue and harmony. Some of them were played for centuries – so everyone knew the plot – the point of interest hence became the refined interpretation. Briefly put it was a sort of psychotherapy by the theatre, which means – social problems are not necessarily the main goal to reach through puppets – but stories that make people sensitive to the harmony inside them. A quiet, happy, generous person will naturally make better choices!”

“It comes without saying that puppets remain an effective tool for mass media: to advertise, to promote or to introduce an idea. To sum up this idea – I would like to work more on refining the expressive capacities of puppets – and the stories by themselves. Something less mindful, entering gently through the door of the heart.”

“I understand that it is a matter of personal choice – as in the field of poetry there was Shakespeare with his sonnets and Mayakovski with his slogans,” she added. “Each one had to express what he resonated with. Finally, I believe it works this way: our soul resonates with some ideas, tastes, places and people – indicating to us that our objective must be somewhere close.”

Lebanon has a small but vibrant puppetry scene, which is made up of more women than men! This is why we thought that women puppeteers should be celebrated on the occasion of International Women’s Day on 8 March and the up-coming International Puppetry Day on 21 March.
Our sample of 10 women working in the field of puppetry each shared their professional trajectory, gave insight into focus of their work, their passions and views on puppetry in Lebanon.
The women puppeteers provide insight into the medley of traditions and styles that have infused the Lebanese scene, the wide array of contexts and purposes in which puppets are being used, created and performed. Not surprisingly they are a reflection of the magic and versatility of the medium – and Lebanon’s diversity.

Discover Women Puppeteers in Lebanon – A series showcasing several artists

Compiled by Nathalie Rosa Bucher for Les Amis des Marionnettes
March 2017