![]() ![]() So, it is still better than television, it is still better– I mean you have places that don’t have electricity and things like that so it is still a good form of entertainment. And partly it is because economically it is still a better form to go to the villages, and so and so forth, you know you just pack up all the characters into one truck or one van and you go to the villages and you open up a show just like that. You see more community based performances. You know you will see more ground up based performances. Certain open air theater, community- open air puppet theater still is very similar to the old Wayang Kulit community style. TT: Partly, it’s got to do with the environment, social economic conditions, geographic conditions, so. Htwe Oo Myanmar, performing ‘Traditional Dances’Īnd do you find that the whole element of the spirituality of the puppet is lost, because it doesn’t translate into the contemporary? Where does that stay? That aspect that has been maintained for so long, is it then lost? But it is just part of what, that is what makes us Southeast Asia, so you know, instead of simply imitating… Its imitation first, and then after that it is adaptation. You know, the adaptaition of Japanese format, but the themes and topics an topics, its very contemporary or against the traditional… But it is not necessarily bad. But a lot of the basic structures, a lot of where they come from still preceeds. So that is what I mean, there is a resistance, there is an attempt to improve over it, and an attempt to do different things with it. So there is still that mediation through the dalang. But then is the puppeteer acting as if he were the puppet itself, to manipulate the way that it moves? Or is the puppeteer, in the suit operate the puppet acting instead as the dalang? And the puppet- the CGI of the puppet start up. So the puppeteer basically puts on the motion capture suit and operates the puppet. Some puppeteers from Malaysia, there is a univeristy somewhere in Kuala Lumpur I believe, which is using CGI for Wayang Kulit. So you have puppeteers in the Philippines and in Singapore trying to take that on. One is the animatronics, right? Kind of starting with post-Jim Henson puppetry. You know how the PlayStation moves or…?įor the puppets? As in built in to the puppets that they make for a performance? For example, in Malaysia, there are people using CGI, or motion capture. But, you’ve also got the contemporary ones who want to infuse the ideas of animations, music and rap, and improvisation, into what is theirs. So you’ve got a camp that kind of protects the dalangs, and kind of protects these aspects. The would say, you know, that it is against the spirituality of the whole thing. So, of course the traditionalists would be against that. There is an awareness of the artists based in Southeast Asia… Ok, one great example would be the artists that infuse hip hop with Wayang Kulit. So, I guess it is kind of hard to put it in words. ![]() A lot of contemporary puppets either go along and either go along and have a lot of influence in the traditions or are in resistance to the traditions. So, in general, you still have a lot of roots from the traditions. Rama, the hero of the Ramayana is depicted holding a spear and designed in the Lepakshi style. Shri Rama, 19th century, leather, Karnataka, South India. Hainanese Rod puppets, a Chinese influence in the development of different types of Asian puppetry – National Museum of SingaporeĬhinese shadow puppets – Asian Civilizations Museum, Singapore The only one that is a little bit different from everyone else is the water puppetry from Vietnam. So you have a little bit of marionette style of puppetry, of the Japanese Bunraku style, as well as the shadow puppetry for Wayang Kulit, and Chinese Shadow Puppetry… All infused in. TT: Do you mean in this area? Yeah, there is a lot of it… Um, I mean, OK basically in the Southeast Asian region there is a lot of influence from China and India and so that affects the contemporary, as well as the West. Following a workshop, I had the pleasure of meeting Terence Tan who was kind enough to answer my questions.ĭo you find that there is a correlation at all between the traditional puppetry perfomances and the contemporary performances? The festival was held in Singapore in a variety of venues, hosting puppeteers from Malaysia, Vietnam, Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Cambodia. A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to interview the director of the ASEAN Puppetry Festival 2012. ![]()
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