Pierrot in Five Masks was presented by Barry Smith at the 1979 Charleville‑Mézières Festival, using the black‑light theatre technique in which puppeteers, dressed in black and concealed by controlled lighting, manipulate visible objects and figures. Three black‑clad performers operated the Pierrot figure and its props, creating the illusion of floating, disembodied movement.
Barry Smith was a British puppet designer, maker and performer whose interest in puppetry began in 1943 after meeting the German puppeteer Paul Brann. As a teenager he toured his own glove‑puppet show, drawing inspiration from Olive Blackham and the Kurt Jooss ballet company. He trained as a voice teacher at the Central School of Speech and Drama, later taught at RADA, and in 1964 coached Laurence Olivier for Othello. In 1969 he founded the Theatre of Puppets with his partner Alan Judd, developing an innovative approach that treated puppetry as a distinct theatrical language and producing adult‑oriented work noted for its artistry, experimentation and high performance standards.
The company created a wide range of productions, including Playspace (1970), several Victorian melodramas, Starchild (1972), Doctor Faustus (1975), de Falla’s Master Peter’s Puppet Show, Beckett’s Act Without Words (1977), an adult Punch and Judy, Bunraku‑style pieces, Music and Drolls (1984), Isabella and the Pot of Basil, and The Snow Queen (1988).
