The idea of several puppeteers working together to bring a single figure to life has a long tradition. In Japan, Bunraku developed into an extraordinary theatrical form in which three puppeteers work in close coordination to animate one character.

In No Strings tabletop puppetry, three participants similarly work together to manipulate and perform a single upright puppet. No one person is responsible for the character. Its breath, movement, focus and responses emerge through collaboration, helping participants move beyond self-consciousness as they express themselves through the puppet together.

The form can be very simple. A powerful character can be created from little more than a few sheets of newspaper, yet it is capable of expressing complex emotions and relationships through the way it moves, reacts and connects with others.

The same principle can also work on a much larger scale. For our programme with the Born Free Foundation, we created a huge elephant puppet, bringing community members together around a character whose size and presence made it impossible to ignore. Whether the puppet is made from newspaper or built on a much larger scale, the effect comes from the same thing: several people working together until the object between them appears to think, feel and come alive.