Marionettes on the move

Magic in the form of marionettes is in the air all this week as more than 160 puppeteers from 80 countries put on shows guaranteed to keep spectators spellbound and wishing for more. Brought to Thailand at the initiative of the Culture Ministry, the Harmony World Puppet Carnival aims to bring harmony back to the country while stimulating exchanges of knowledge about this art form between East and West. In addition to live performances, the 10-day festival also features the exhibition “Art of Thai Puppet and Contemporary Puppets in the reign of King Rama IX” at the Rajdamnoen Contemporary Art Centre, documentary videos, puppet films, academic conferences, roundtables, workshops and seminars.

Underscoring the national policy of reconciliation, Culture Minister Veera Rojpojanarat presided over the opening of the Bt20-million-festival at Sanam Luang where more than 200 performances featuring different styles of puppets will share the same outdoor stage.

Some 20 troupes from Asia-Pacific have joined their counterparts in the West to take part in the festival with one of the highlights of this past weekend being Thailand’s award winning Sema Thai Marionette Arts for Social Foundation, which presented its new string puppets as well as its traditional royal, hand, finger and shadow puppets.

Malaysia’s contemporary troupe ACX Productions presented the musical “Nana and Ah Lu”, a combined performance of man and shadow puppet, Thuy Tien led Vietnam’s Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre in showcasing their unique marionettes, many of which date back to the eleventh century in “Vietnam in Puppets, while the Dolls Theatre from Kolkata portrayed the mutual awareness and relationship of man and nature in the four-episode “Taming of the Wild”. 

Myanmar also answered present, with Hywe Oo Myanmar from Yangon bringing its “Myanmar Traditional Puppet Theatre” to the stage.

Tonight’s highlight is “Te Ao” (“The World”) by Company Taowaru, a Maori troupe from New Zealand’s Coromandel Peninsula. Showing at the National Gallery Bangkok, the 45-minute performance portrays the Maori legend of how the gods sang the world into existence and fuses karetao (Maori puppetry) with taonga puoro (Maori instruments).

On Wednesday at 5pm, Filipino Wanlu and his Puppets from Antipolo City will present his therapy show “Talentadong Pinoy Papetir” in English at Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre. The performance, which combines ventriloquism and puppetry with audience participation, was used to help the victims of Super Typhoon Haiyan, which devastated the town of Tacloban last November. 

Japanese director Yorie Akiba brings Theatre & Puppet Ensemble Glasio Bluo to stage “Crow Boy” at the National Gallery this Thursday at 6. The show, which is in Japanese with English surtitles, is a multi-media work featuring Bunraku-style puppetry and shadow projection to a score of live tribal music. This adaptation is based on Taro Yashima’s children’s picture book of the same name, which was first published in the US in 1955 and uses shadow puppetry to bring a small village in old Japan to life.

Another must-see is Indian director Jeetendra Adwani’s Masti Makers-The Human Puppet Group. Performing several shows at Sanam Luang, these innovative puppet dancers cover their head with cloth and draw their faces down to their stomach as they perform the “India Harmony Dance”.

 

 

SIDEBAR

 

Strings of sheer delight

 

 

Today

10am: Sydney Puppet Theatre’s “Nella’s Wings” at National Theatre’s small hall

Noon: South Korea’s Theatre Ro Gi Narae’s “The Woodcutter and the Heavenly Maiden” at Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre

 

Tomorrow

4pm: Outdoor stage and street programme at Sanam Luang featuring New Zealand’s String Bean Puppets, Argentina’s La Gorda Azul Teatro, India’s Masti Makers Dancing Group, Romania’s Merlin Theatre and Iran’s 27 Aban Group Theatre

7pm: Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy Puppet Theatre’s “Bede Konna – Folk Story of Bangladesh” at Sanam Luang

8pm Thailand’s Nang Yai Tamroi Phra Nakhon Wai at Sanam Luang

 

Wednesday

11am: South Korean Kkachidong Theatre Company’s “The Dreaming Girl Shimchung” at Wangna Theatre

4pm: Outdoor stage and street programme at Sanam Luang featuring the United Kingdom’s Noisy Oyster Company, Argentina’s Teatro Tutiriteres Santa Fe, South Korea’s Theatre Ro Gi Narae, Turkey’s Serkan Kaplan Theatre Ankara, New Zealand’s String Bean Puppets and Russia’s Reflection Theatre Moscow

7pm: National Puppet Theatre Trupe Kabong Lao’s “Arts-Koiy” at Sanam Luang 

 

Thursday

4pm: Outdoor stage and street programme at Sanam Luang featuring India’s Masti Makers Dance Group Rajastan, Russia’s Theatre’s “Kukfo” Sankt-Peterburg, Turkey’s Serkan Kaplan Theatre Ankara, Peru’s Jose Navarro Theatre, Canada’s Julie Desrosiers Theatre Montreal, UK’s Noisy Oyster Theatre and Iran’s 27 Aban Group Theatre Tehran

7pm: “Wayang Show” by Pepadi - Indonesian Puppeteer Association at Sanam Luang

 

Friday

10am: Australian’s Compagnie Articulate “The Defeated Troll” A Tale with a Twist” at Wangna Theatre

11am: Iran’s 7-5-1 Theatre Group’s “Naughty Boy” at Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Anthropology Centre

5pm: Thailand’’s Hun Krabok Punjasikara at Royal Pavilion Mahajetsadabadin

7pm: Cambodia’s Sbeik Thom Shadow Puppet Troupe’s “Sor Neakabas” at Sanam Luang

8pm: Thailand’s Nang Talung Khana Archan Wathee Sapsin’s Shadow Puppet at Sanam Luang

 

Saturday

12am: Malasia’s PuppetKu’s Theatre “Mr Fox, You’re Special” at Rajdamnoen Contemporary Art Centre

4pm: Outdoor stage and street programme at Sanam Luang featuring India’s Masti Makers Dance Group, Ireland’s Your Man’s Puppets, Ireland, New Zealand’s String Bean Puppets, Turkey’s Serkan Kaplan Theatre Ankara, Russia’s Theatre Reflection Moscow, Vietnam’s Thuy Tien from TLW Puppet Theatre, Iran’s 27 Aban Group Theatre Tehran

5pm: Singapore’s Mascots and Puppets Specialists with Frankie Malachi's “Springs Strings” at Wangna Theatre

7pm: Vietnam Puppetry Theatre’s “The Melody of Homelands”

 

Sunday

4pm: Puppet Collaboration & Giant Installation at Sanam Luang 

7pm: Thailand’s Hun Lakorn Lek Joe Louis at Royal Pavilion Mahajetsadabadin

7.30pm: New Zealand’s String Bean Puppets’ “Once in a Full Moon” at Sanam Luang

9pm: Thailand’s Nang Yai Wat Khanon’s “Shadow Puppet” at Sanam Luang 

 

November 10

3pm: Closing ceremony with street shows, puppet shows, live music, dancing carnival parade, awards presentation and closing party at National Theatre

7pm: Thailand’s Hun Luang Surat Jongda (Khru Kai)’s “Royal Puppet” in front of the Church of Wangna Theatre

 

For more information and full programme, visit www.HarmonyWorldPuppet.com.

 

The Nation