The Manteo Family's Sicilian Puppets

Extract

“The last example of a 300-year-old tradition” is what the handbill says, referring to a performance of the famous “Papa” Manteo Sicilian marionettes at the Loreto Playhouse on Bleecker Street in New York City.

Certainly, the Sicilian marionettes are special. First, they are rod puppets-not terribly common, although this kind of puppet existed in Roman times. A rod “control” is pushed through a hole in the head and hooked into an iron eye loop in the torso; another rod controls the right arm, which is the sword arm. Normally, the puppeteer uses the left hand to control the head and the right hand to control the arm. There is no leg control and the legs, therefore, swing free, moving by their own weight. This gives a realistic look to the walk, a kind of a stiff-legged stride which Bil Baird describes in The Art of the Puppet as being famous all over Sicily: “Students stiffen up and fall into the ‘Orlando’ walk just for fun…”