Greetings to all masters of puppets out there!

I have a question about the lighting setup needed for a performance. Me and the wife we have a puppet group here in Greece and we’re staging Pinnochio. Don’t think of small, glove puppets, but more like human-sized puppets. The puppeteers also move independently, like actors-narrators. There is a curtain, like a screen, and the puppets and the actors move freely on stage, in an area of about 4 meters deep and 5 meters wide and emerge on top of the screen. Check this clip out to understand (36 seconds)



So these are the needs. We need to light actors and big puppets in an area of 4x5 and on top of a screen for a theater stage. I should point out that it is very important to make the puppets as children-friendly as possible, we don’t want them to look creepy or anything, by lighting them from below, for example.

The lights will be controlled on stage, by one of the puppeteers, who also changes the music tracks. So we are also looking for a console with at least 20-30 scenes.

The budget is limited, 1500-2000 euros, and portability is important, as we are a traveling group!

Any advice, suggestions, links would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

You are probably looking for something like this https://musysic.com/products/complete-professional-4-par-stage-led-lights-dj-band-dmx-system-stand-mu-l31a Not perfect but could get you started. Most of these portable systems are designed for DJ's but could be used for a puppet show.  The key words you need to look for since I assume you are not in the states is LED Par lights. A Par is going to give you general light coverage so you can't really separate out lighting areas but they are generally the least expensive light. LED lights are the big thing now simply because you can control their color.  They also do not get as hot and last longer.

Your other option is to build your own set up. Back in the day before they had all these systems at lower cost I had to build my own stuff with house hold products.  Dimmers for regular house lights wired to outlets set in a box gave me control over flood lights.   It is an option but you have to have electrical wiring knowledge and be careful about how you build a stand to hold your lights so that it is stable enough it won't fall over.

BTW: Floor lighting well not necessarily make your puppets look scary. Bad design well.   I used portable floor lighting for my marionette shows for years.  It well remove shadows cast by overhead lighting that can actually make things look a bit scary.