
Most important, puppets hover in a space between realism and abstraction. Because they are not human, they don&rsquo;t come at us with a lot of confusing detail. What detail they do have is economical, artistic&mdash;chosen&mdash;and therefore they can represent ideas easily.

Joan Acocella on Chinese puppeteer, Yeung Fai&amp;#8217;s show at Lincoln Center, &amp;#8220;Hand Stories,&amp;#8221; which tells of his family&amp;#8217;s history in puppetry:&nbsp;http://nyr.kr/OzMTOG

(Photograph by Stephanie Berger.)