Dream of Becoming
Dream of Becoming
Living within the folk community, Taiwanese puppetry has always occupied a place in the arena of popular entertainment, having to not only face the changing aesthetic tastes of people in different eras but also to resiliently survive under changes in political regimes.
In the final years of Japanese colonial rule, amidst the influence of Japanese traditional puppet theatre, Bunraku (文樂), and modern puppetry, Huang Deshi remained steadfast in his belief in the uniqueness and value of indigenous puppetry art.
The Taipei Puppet Theater is a representative traditional puppetry troupe in Taiwan. Breaking away from the traditional family-based puppetry troupes and their constraints, it focuses on preserving Taiwanese traditional arts. Through practical research, fieldwork, and collaboration with master puppeteers, the theatre constructs works representing different periods.
Amidst the tide of generational exchange, the theatre began collaborating with modern directors and artists from various fields, reinterpreting traditional Taiwanese puppetry to create new puppetry works that resonate with the contemporary era.
Dream of Becoming (得時の夢) not only represents Mr. Huang Deshi’s imagination of traditional puppetry but also embodies the modern professional theatre troupe’s contemplation on how to adapt to the times—a dream of art conforming to the zeitgeist!
"Dream of Becoming"
Production Info
- Touring Personnel: 10 (Director x 1,Administration Manager x1, Puppeteer x3, Musician x4, Technician x1)
- Program Duration: 60 minutes (without intermission)
- Set up/Move out: 2 Days /16 hours
- HrsAvailable Dates and Performance Fee: Please contact Taipei Puppet Theater
- Touring: September 2024 ''Dream of Becoming'' AAPPAC(Showcase), Taipei Performing Arts Center, Taipei
Othello
Othello
This play is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s tragedy,”“Othello”. It depicts the story of Marine General Othello from the Ming dynasty, who was wrongly convinced bybelieves the false testimony of his subordinate Ya-ko Yin that his wife Shih-ti Tai was cheating on him.
The play is scripted individed into five acts: “Greed,” , “Anger,” , “Ignorance,” , “Delusion,” , and “Arrogance,” starting frombeginning with Othello’s despair after his murder of his wifethe uxoricide and ending within the killing of his inner self, which freesd himself from the state of ignorancethe dejection.The play was inspired by the performing essence of traditional theatre actors and glove puppetry. The juxtaposition of human actors and puppets utilizes the characteristics of these two traditional arts and connects with the scenes and the script.
The story begins in medias res, right whenafterthe uxoricide happenedShih-ti Tai’s murder. The audience then follows Othello all the way fromthrough his memories, remembrance, awakening, contemplationpondering, regret, to his suicideself-murder – but was it for love or atonement?
Production Info
- Touring Personnel: 11 (Director x 1,Administration Manager x1, performer x4, Musician x4, Technician x1)
- Program Duration: 70 minutes (without intermission)
- Set up/Move out: 2 Days /16 hours
- HrsAvailable Dates and Performance Fee: Please contact Taipei Puppet Theater
- Touring: December 2022 "Orthello"Taiwan Traditional Theatre Center, Taipei, Taiwan
Journey to the West: Tongtian River
Journey to the West: Tongtian River
Adapted from the “Tang Seng Passing Through Tongtian River at Night” section in Journey to the West, the mythology novel of Ming Dynasty, the performance is presented in the unique form of Taiwanese puppetry. It manifests the essence of “seeing the truth through fantasy” that the novel embodies. The fast-paced and comic narrative shifts away from the purpose of “enlightening” as in literature, and instead brings up more artistic values and entertainment through an innovative performing approach.
Description: Tang Sen and his three disciples travel to the western regions to obtain Buddhist sacred sutras. When passing through the Tongtian River, they are told there in the village lives a monster named Inspiration King, the metamorphosis of a fish monster who enjoys eating young boys and girls.
In order to keep the village intact, the villagers sacrifice young boys and girls annually. Tang Sen and his three disciples, after becoming aware of the situation, decide to offer help, and eventually defeat the fish monster.
Production Info
- Touring Personnel: 12 (Director x 1,Administration Manager x1, Puppeteer x4, Musician x4, Technician x2)
- Program Duration: 60 minutes (without intermission)
- Set up/Move out: 2 Days /16 hours
- HrsAvailable Dates and Performance Fee: Please contact Taipei Puppet Theater
The Daring Lying Lantern Monkey
The Daring Lying Lantern Monkey
It is based on a legend of Shendao in the "Taiwan Folk Literature Collection" published in Showa eleven.
Every year, the people of Formosa Island hold the "End of Winter" ceremony in honor of the gods, cleaning altars and putting on new clothes for the gods, but the people always forget the Lantern Monkey who holds the candlesticks for the gods. The Lantern Monkey was also ridiculed by the holy tree and holy stone, and he became furiously angry.
The Lantern Monkey, possessed by rage, lied to the Jade Emperor of Heaven about the profligate life of the people of Formosa Island, their behavior violating heaven and earth, and the Jade Emperor was so angry that he ordered the King of the East China Sea to flood and sink Formosa on the last day of the lunar year.
The Land God was sympathetic to the people, and appeared in their dreams, asking them to prepare in advance; and he asked for assistance from Guanyin (the Bodhisattva of Mercy).
Formosa Island is about to sink, and the people have no choice but to get together for a final dinner ...
On the last day of the lunar year, the sky shook andthe Dragon King rained rocks and water on Formosa Island. Bodhisattva Guanyin arrived in time and, upon the Jade Emperor's order, told the Dragon King to retreat and punished the Lantern Monkey.
Production Info
- Touring Personnel: 12 (Director x 1,Administration Manager x1, Puppeteer x4, Musician x4, Technician x2)
- Program Duration: 60-90 minutes (without intermission)
- Set up/Move out: 2 Days /16 hours
- HrsAvailable Dates and Performance Fee: Please contact Taipei Puppet Theater
Monkey King
Monkey King
The Buddha RU-LAI kicked into a rock when he was wandering. The rock was stained with his blood and absorbed essence of the sun and moon. One day A monkey jumped out of the rock and was chosen to be the king among the monkeys because of his smartness. The master PU-TI named the rock monkey Sun-Wu-Kong and let Wu-Kong to be his apprentice.
The PU-TI master asked Wu-Kong went back to the Huaguoshan after he had done his learning. When Wu-Kong returned to the Huaguoshan , the monkeys were pursued by monsters, so he helped to expel monsters and dated with the King Devil-Ox for a fight 10 days later.Monkeys introduced Wu-Kong to the Crystal Palace of the Eastern China Sea to get suitable weapon. The king-dragon of crystal palace ordered the minister turtle to show Wu-Kong around in the crystal palace.
Wu-kong found the wave-fixed stick to be the suitable weapon, and he can do anything with it. Then he played as a naughty boy in the crystal palace in order to take away the wave-fixed stick. The King Devil-Ox gathered 72 leaders to attack the Huaguoshan , it was a draw game between Wu-Kong and the King Devil-Ox as they both were almost even in fighting….
Production Info
- Touring Personnel: 10 (Director x 1,Administration Manager x1, Puppeteer x3, Musician x4 Technician x1 )
- Program Duration: 60 minutes (without intermission)
- Set up/Move out: 2 Days /16 hours
- HrsAvailable Dates and Performance Fee: Please contact Taipei Puppet Theater