Miniature Puppetry - Lambe Lambe Theatre
A video and some thoughts behind a prototype scratch piece of "teatro lambe lambe", with the intention to raise awareness of exploitative pet monkey social media content.
This is a post about a recent course I did, learning to make a miniature “lambe lambe” theatre, plus information about cruel social media videos depicting baby monkeys dressed as humans, which is the subject of my own lambe lambe.
In Autumn 2024 I did a course led by Fagner Gastaldon of PuppetSoup to learn how to make a “Teatro Lambe Lambe” prototype: an intimate form of puppetry that takes place inside a small, confined space - usually a box - which has a peephole for the audience to look through. It is designed to be viewed by one person at a time and the show usually lasts between 2 and 5 minutes.
The world’s first Teatro Lambe Lambe was called “Dance of Birth” (about childbirth) and was created in Brazil in 1989 by Denise Santos and Ismine Lima.
More information about the background of this art form can be found here on the PuppetSoup website.
For my own Lambe Lambe, I decided to take “inspiration” from the millions of “cute” pet monkey videos on Instagram and TikTok. No matter how many times I report these videos as being cruel and exploitative, they continue to show up in my Instagram and YouTube feed. Baby monkeys dressed up in human clothes doing “human” things have always been a popular form of entertainment. There has been a trend in recent years on social media of videos of baby macaques being dressed up like little dolls, fed with baby bottles and being bathed in the sink. A lot of these videos have high production standards, and clearly show a good understanding of colour theory and aesthetics. They are extremely popular. There have been many investigations into these videos, and it’s been found that in a huge number of cases involve cruelty and violence - whether intentional or not. The Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition (SMACC), founded by Asia for Animals, describes this “trend” in their report on pet baby macaque “content”:
“The keeping and portrayal of macaques as pets on social media are among the most common and concerning issues that the Asia for Animals (AfA) Social Media Animal Cruelty Coalition (SMACC) regularly documents. From innocent-seeming videos or well-meaning owners to videos that show extreme violence, the many forms of cruelty that macaques face for the sake of social media content are devastating. Baby macaques, sometimes removed from their mothers at only a day old, are faced with years of maternal deprivation and social isolation, forced to live in unnatural settings that do not meet their innate needs. These monkeys are made to perform for the camera in hopes of viral popularity and financial gain. Unfortunately, content creators have learned that pet macaque content can become extremely popular, which incentivizes its creation. Much of this content portrays macaques in clothes or feeding on milk bottles, but as we have found, the prospects of this seemingly innocuous exploitation degenerating into more blatant and extreme forms of cruelty are high.
It is crucial to understand that animal cruelty is not limited to the direct physical abuse of animals. Experts agree that keeping primates as pets is inherently cruel, and results in a multitude of issues that severely compromise their welfare. Their popularity on social media has devastating consequences for both individual animals and wild populations. By allowing such content on their platforms, social media companies are fueling an already dire situation. Furthermore, many content creators go beyond just sharing photos and videos of their pet macaques; they purposely film them and post on social media to generate likes and views, forcing the monkeys to perform or to cope with stressful and distressing situations.
[...] Thirty-five percent of the macaque species featured are classified as Endangered, and Critically Endangered species were also found. More than 60% of the links contain forms of overt physical abuse to these pet macaques.”
The SMACC website is a really good resource to increase awareness of what to do if you encounter these videos, and I’d recommend taking a look. Please be aware though, some of the content on their website is very distressing. The following link contains information to help people know whether or not a video they have come across is cruel, and the best way to help crack down on it. There is no graphic animal cruelty content on this particular page, nor on their awareness videos found on this particular page. https://www.smaccoalition.com/ask-yourself-why-is-this-cruel
The video at the top of this post is a rough “scratch” video showing my lambe lambe prototype. It’s very much a work in progress. As Fagner and Cass explained, teatro lambe lambe is all about getting to the “essence” of a story, as you only have a few minutes to tell it, in a very limited space. It made me think of a haiku. I have a tendency to over complicate and keep adding more and more ideas! Condensing something right down like this was a huge challenge for me and I got quite frustrated, but it was a really valuable experience. I struggled with balancing the need for transparency about this particular issue with the needs of the audience; as there is only one spectator at a time, I didn’t want the audience to feel traumatised or hopeless. I decided to go for a creepy, horror vibe, trying to hint at something very dark and sinister below the “cute” surface level. The music is called “The Music Box” and is by Vivek Abhishek, who allows his music to be used royalty free! Here is a link to his YouTube Channel.
I am planning on making the theatre eventually out of wood. If I were to end up performing it live, I would give the audience a little leaflet telling them what they can do to help. I am yet to create a “peephole” in my box - this was because, at the end of the course, we did a live stream over Zoom. Because the angle of the camera on my laptop, we had to show our theatres with an open front, to allow best viewing for an online audience. I also didn’t get round to working on the outside of the box, which is also an important part of the piece, and helps draw the audience in to see what is inside the box. Currently, I am thinking about incorporating the idea of an old organ-grinder’s box (traditionally the organ grinder would have a captive monkey dressed in fez and bolero to collect donations from the audience), to help draw parallels between performing animals in the Victorian era and the current trend of performing animals on social media.
