Wednesday 11 February 2004

2004: Chiao Wan Jan Puppet Troupe

    THEATRE BY FRANK McKONE
   
    Chiao Wan Jan Puppet Troupe.  Ping Deng Elementary School, Taipei, Taiwan on the World Music Stage, Garema Place Wednesday, Thursday, Friday February 11-13, 6pm and Glebe Park Sunday February 15, 11am.  National Multicultural Festival - free event.

    One young gentleman informed me that he already knew the story of the three kings, which begins with the Monkey-king who lives in the water curtain cave where he is attacked by Ninjas, and so I realised how the Chinese tradition, via Japan's play stations, have infiltrated Australian culture.  Much of what I saw, in my ignorance of the details of the story, looked like marvellous hand-puppets with all the action of a Bruce Lee / Jackie Chan movie, sometimes the subtleties of Hidden Dragon, Crouching Tiger, and often a sense of humour reminiscent of the English Punch and Judy.

    Your children will certainly enjoy a show that for the fifth graders from Taipei was obviously good fun to perform.  But there is much more to this puppet troupe.  In a similar way to how the Flying Fruit Fly Circus School operates in Albury, these students choose hand puppetry as an elective class in a school which employs Puppet Master Li Tien-Lu to pass on the traditional art. For 11 year olds who have been training for less than 3 years, the current Ping Deng students have learned skills of a high order indeed in expressive manipulation of the puppets, in stage voice work, and on traditional musical instruments.  The effect is a miniature but complete Chinese opera, including acrobatics and even a puppet which spins a plate balanced on a stick just as in the circus.

    What I found impressive was that the teachers were so competent that they could be the facilitators and assistants for their students, who had clearly become self-reliant, independent and confident performers.  They have travelled before to Korea, Canada and Singapore, so we are benefitting from their experience.  These young people have learned the art of self-expression through discipline.  The complexities and detail of the puppets' movements, the speaking and music are as much as most adults would find a challenge to learn, yet backstage (which we can see in the open air staging) there was absolute teamwork, cooperation and good humour.  Not to be missed.

© Frank McKone, Canberra