The Puppet Theatre

The Puppet theatre is a setting for Puppet History, built by Shane Madej,

The Puppet Theatre is the setting for most episodes of Puppet History, the only exception being Season 5 Episode 6 'The Dreadful Demise of the Dinosaurs' where the game takes place in a modified version of the theatre constructed from bones and other natural materials such as leaves and sticks.

## Design and Construction

The theatre appears to be modelled off historical buildings such as the Greek Parthenon, as evidenced by the Stone pillar proscenium, however it is also possible that Shane based the theatre in part on the real world Biggar Puppet Theatre due to the similarities in design. Fake constellations are also featured as detail on the Theatre's base. Proudly displayed on the top of the proscenium is the Watcher logo. In terms of real world theatre construction, the theatre follows design principles of an 'End On' stage design, not featuring an apron or orchestra pit that would classify it as 'Proscenium Arch'.

The Proscenium of the stage is scaled to the dimensions of a 1920x1080p screen. Mostly made from general arts and craft's materials, the original theatre was designed to be portable to allow for different filming locations, something that came in very handy during the filming of Puppet History during the Covid 19 lock-down. The theatres walls, proscenium frame, ceiling (curtain track) and base are all made from poster board due to its general strength and ease of use. Other sections such as the Stone Pillars and both top and bottom of the proscenium appear to be made of painted cardboard (or possibly also poster board), this can mostly be assumed to be true for the modified version of the theatre seen in Season 6. The theatre features a working fabric curtain with a rope detailing which lowers on a slide track/plate. This curtain has not been used commonly since season 1 due to issues with it's lowering, and the rare occasions where Shane dropped the guide rope, causing the curtain to fall through its mechanism. Instead, the curtain has been replaced by a CGI copy, allowing for quick turn around between scenes. There are two decorative curtains either side of the stage, these are not functional. There is also a fabric back curtain.

In season 5 the theatre had a pipe connected to a holographic projection box attached to its right wing (assuming stage right is from The Professors prospective).

In season 6 the theatre had a rebuild, being scaled up to allow for the use of the larger Professor Puppet introduced in late season 5. The fate of the original theatre and original Professor puppet is unknown, though both are likely in storage for use as backups. The new theatre features wider stone pillars on the proscenium and bolder detailing as well as generally being larger than the old theatre. It appears that the new theatre still features a working curtain as any side profile of the set shows that there is still a slide for the mechanism. The new theatre appears to be made of wood and fabric.

## Lighting

Both iterations of the puppet theatre feature a working lighting rig. A wash effect on the stage interior is made possible by an LED strip on the prosceniums back. The blue glow effect on the base board is performed with a similar strip along the length of the board. This is seen best in the Lock-down episodes as there is darker lighting on set. All other lights on the exterior of the Proscenium are studio lights and are not part of the theatre.

Lighting effects are used during games, when a question segment begins, the lights turn red. During Puppet performances at the end of episodes, the lights often are put on an RGB fade. Strobe effects are also used.

During 'The Demonic Possessions of Loudun' (End of Season 4) in Asmodeus's song, 3 CGI moving lighting rigs are shown around the theatre, these rigs are based on Asmodeus's three heads.

During 'The Bloody Life of England's Fastest Surgeon', the Holographic Professors song features a large number of lighting effects including strobes, Spot movers, RGB fades, Chases, projections and an LED screen effect. Almost all of these are added in post.

## Sound

It is unknown if the theatre actually has a sound system, though this is implied in cannon as the musical segments at the end of the show would require one.