Puppet Origin Stories – Champion a Puppet Today
The Finger Players (TFP) was founded on 28th August 1999, and countless puppets have been built in our workshop to create the special brand of theatre that so many of our audiences have grown to love and support. Puppets inspire belief in us and our audience members, telling magnificent and magical stories while still providing a safe distance from difficult themes. Since our inception, we have told stories about life and death, war and pain, and we have even tackled challenging but essential topics like child sexual abuse, youth mindfulness and disability.
We believe in puppets because we believe it births imagination and fantasy, creating worlds that we can safely exist in.
In 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, we spoke to the Makers and Designers of the puppets we have in TFP, to create the repository that is the Puppet Origin Stories – a humble effort to highlight the background, and the making and design history of these puppets. We hope that this can be a continued endeavour at TFP, and we hope that you can go on this journey with us.
Make a donation to champion a puppet that you feel affinity for today.
Can’t decide which puppet to champion?
TAKE THIS SHORT QUIZ TO HELP YOU DECIDE!
Ah Keng
Ah Keng
Born in the mountains
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Ah Ma
Ah Ma
Sculpted after Co-founder Tan Beng Tian
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Amrita
Amrita
The only puppet in TFP that has feet
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Angel
Angel
Once a monk, now an angel
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Astronaut
Astronaut
Puppet with slinkies in its limbs
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Big Bully
Big Bully
Our oldest puppet
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Big Head and Wing
Big Head and Wing
An experiment in color-shift technique
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Bird
Bird
3D shadow puppetry, between reality and projected reality
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Black Body
Black Body
Mummified an actor to make this
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Cat
Cat
Has a twin
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Confetti Drum
Confetti Drum
A lesson in how to let confetti fall beautifully
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Cow
Cow
Designer built it to torture the puppeteer (the same person)
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Drum Carousel
Drum Carousel
Built for an adaptation of Mishima’s The Damask Drum
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Elderly Person
Elderly Person
When actors not enough
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Faceless Maiden
Faceless Maiden
Made from a cookie tin and lovely swathes of fabric
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Funny Old Tree
Funny Old Tree
Inspired by the bonsai
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Headgears
Headgears
Is now at Karen Tan’s house
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Intestines
Intestines
Looks like intestines, but is actually rope wrapped in fabric
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Jackson
Jackson
Was previously Ah Mu
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Leaf
Leaf
Do you ever feel… like a leaf?
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Leng
Leng
Has spongey hair to appear likeable
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Long Nv and Tudou
Tudou and Long Nv
Dragon Girl and Potato – the love story that never was
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Moon Baby
Moon Baby
Wanna know why, it has only one eye?
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Oink Oink and Quack Quack
Oink Oink and Quack Quack
Design concept inspired by Singapore’s high rainfall
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Peng
Peng
The puppet that documents the pandemic
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Platform
Platform
Layering of shadow puppet cut-outs with speed / depth
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Polygonal Masks
Polygonal Masks
Design alluding to fragmented reality in mental illness
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Rolling Shadow Screen
Rolling Shadow Screen
Even sliding scenery has artistry
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Samsul Woman
Samsul Woman
Girl powerrrrrrr!!!
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Senta
Senta
Was modelled after the costume the actor wore
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Sponge Girl
Sponge Girl
Myra Loke’s spirit puppet
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Sun Wu Kong
Sun Wu Kong
Bigger than most hand puppets so it can wield weapons
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Toyogo Box
Toyogo Box
More interesting than its name
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Turning Plates Puppet
Turning Plates Puppet
Puppet that tries to keep the plates turning
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White Dog
White Dog
When a palm-sized 3D puzzle becomes a life-sized puppet
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We would like to thank:
Tak Takut Kids Club for drawing most of the images you see above
Erwina Chua
Shannon Ong
Joxop
Benson Lim
Tuckys Photography
Daniel Sim
Tan Beng Tian
Jai Rafferty
Crispi Photography