Puppetry for Amélie

Back in 2023, before the launch of Wardi Production Services, I designed, constructed, and operated a puppet for a production of Amélie, used to represent Amélie as a child. As the audience’s first introduction to the character, the puppet offered a unique, quirky, and kitsch interpretation that brought young Amélie to life on stage while immediately establishing her personality. The puppet was proportioned to represent a six-year-old girl. Through performance, I was able to communicate a range of emotions by manipulating the puppet and incorporating my own facial expressions to clarify her feelings for the audience, for example, wiping her eyes during the funeral scene to suggest tears. Stylistically, the puppet balanced deliberately artificial elements, such as button eyes, with more human characteristics like plaited hair, aligning closely with my original design intentions and research into puppetry.