marionette mask

In addition to performing with their own marionettes, Ken and Dorothy McKay were active in various puppetry organizations, including the Hamilton Marionette Club, the Hamilton Junior Marionette Club, the Southwestern Ontario Puppetry Guild, and the Ontario Puppetry Association. Ken is Past-President of Puppeteers of America, and has served in various capacities with UNIMA-Canada (the Canadian branch of Union Internationale de la Marionette), UNIMA-International, and the Ontario Puppetry Association. He is the author of Puppetry in Canada: An Art to Enchant (1980) and was Curator of the former Puppet Centre in Toronto. Dorothy McKay was the Puppet Centre's first Director. For their contribution to puppetry, both Ken and Dorothy were named Honorary Members of the Ontario Puppetry Association.

Adapted from Figuratively Speaking : Puppetry in Ontario by Ken McKay, copyright 1990. Courtesy of the Ontario Puppetry Association and Ken McKay.

(Alternate name: String Puppet)

This category of puppet is controlled from above using strings. Marionettes are usually fully articulated, with strings linking the different parts of the body - head, torso, arms, legs - to a hand-held "control". Several different types of controls exist, with various degrees of complexity (vertical, horizontal, angled). Marionettes can be made of a wide range of materials: wood, paper, fabric, foam rubber, etc.

Tandem Marionette

Marionette combining two characters - sometimes more - which are usually placed side by side and attached to the same control. This type of puppet is most often used when similar characters must make identical movements; e.g., a corps de ballet.

Trick Marionette

A marionette constructed and strung in a way that allows it to perform precise and intricate activities (e.g., juggling, performing complex manoeuvres on a trapeze), or to transform (e.g., when one character changes into another). In the latter case, it should be noted that the term "transformation marionette" can also be used.