Puppet Origin Stories Fundraising

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