If you only know the Handspring Puppet Company via ‘War Horse’ then this splendid new book will come as a big surprise. It provides a comprehensive survey of the Company’s work in adult puppet theatre, giving insights into its philosophy and technical innovations. It is full of 250 explicit colour photographs which more than illuminate the essays provided by theatre practitioners and writers who have collaborated with the company over the last fifteen years. There are six key chapters : Thinking Through Puppets, Escaping the Puppet Ghetto; In Dialogue; Faustean Handsprung Notes; A Matter of Life and Death - The Function of Malfunction in the work of Handspring Puppet Company; Puppetry and Authorship. The text analyses the principles, values and beliefs of the two founders of the company - Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler - and their collaborators. The company's attention to detail and technical innovations in puppet making are highlighted. The book is the first comrehensive survey of the company's work in adult puppet theatre and reveals their commitment to creating compelling multimedia works that break through the confines of existing genres. This is a handsome softbound publication with 280 pages of text that includes a contextual preface, introduction and select chronology of productions 1985-2009.