File puptcrit/puptcrit.0702, message 180


From: "Alan Cook" <alangregorycook-AT-msn.com>
To: art_goo-AT-yahoo.com
Date: Sun, 18 Feb 2007 02:46:40 GMT
Cc: puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org
Subject: [Puptcrit] Chinese marionettes


First off, I was in Monterey Park CA for much of today, expecting to participate in a Chinese New Year of the Pig celebration. The people I was dealing with were TOTALLY INCOMPETENT, I was to display some Chinese marionettes in the VIP tent but could not find it. I don't think they had put it up yet. 

I was supposed to do a simple shadow puppet workshop in the Kidzone tent but there was no room and no electric power there. A big fiasco.  I became concerned when Friday I still did not have essential information (location, where to park---which was over 6 blocks from the alleged VIP TENT. I can only conclude there were no VIPs at this event.)

 There WERE a lot of vendors including lots of DVD sellers, but I could not find anything about puppets or with puppets in  the 100s of Chinese DVDs offered.

One vendor asked what I was looking for. He had NEVER HEARD OF PUPPETS! So he was useless to me.

You say you were told these marionettes were used by a touring company---that is standard. There are not a lot of permanent theaters.

The costumes are similar to some I have--much simpler than the highly embroidered classical ones one could see in the past (Fancy embroidered costumes could be seen on hand puppets of yore but "no-one does that stitching anymore.") 

 The wonderful Chinese marionette artist who performed at the 1999 Seattle Puppetry Festival at U of Washington maintained the classic look with lovely embroidery, gorgeous carving and painting as well as fine manipulation. Those who were there were fortunate to see it before it was gone. That Puppet Master is now dead, alas.

For many years, Chinese marionettes were hard to find in the USA. Now TV is impacting the Chinese Mainland, and  troupes are going out of business at an alarming rate.. I think it is a lousy trade-off.

Not all of the marionettes are old, but they still can be good examples. Many of the wood hands or feet are unpainted---something not seen years ago.

I have seen hand puppet heads made of plastic, and heard of later plastic heads with WOOD NECKS designed to fool purchasers into thinking the heads were wood.. So BUYER BEWARE warnings need to be heeded.

Regarding the marionette controls: The ones in your (Yvette's) 2 photos are made of bamboo and I have some which are damaged (back end missing because of past bug damage). I have some controls made of wood in the same "paddle" shape as the bamboo ones, but the hanger hook is wire.

It is a matter of available materials.

Finally, The Chinese marionette was sometimes used in special performances reserved ONLY for placating the gods (no humans allowed in the audience). I heard about a kid who snuck in to see such a forbidden performance. In the middle of the night after the performance, he had nightmares and his screaming woke up the household.

The remedy fortunately was simple. The marionettists simply repeated the show for the gods, WITHOUT any humans in the audience.

What I like best about this story is that the puppeteers got paid TWICE!

Television made a big dent on Taiwan's hand puppet troupes in the 1960s and as many as 1000 to 3000 puppeteers went out of business practically overnight because ONE puppet troupe was working on TV screens. Thousands of Taiwan hand puppets from small to large headed figures came on the North American market to the delight of countless interior decorators.

Speaking of that TV time-frame. there was a news report that a Taiwanese gentleman got so excited watching a battle between TV puppet troupes, that he had a heart attack and died. What a way to go! Not exactly a puppet show at a funeral, but related.

So TV in Mainland China is now killing off itinerant puppet troupes.

It is an old pattern in the world of folkpuppet theater. In the 1930s, movies provided similar competition to shadow plays (the FIRST FORM OF MOVING PICTURES).

In our own world puppets are competing with COMPUTER GENERATED IMAGES. (Another warning to BEWARE).

ALAN COOK

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