Global Conversations | Taiwanese Puppetry: Shan Puppet Theatre (Zoom Online)

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Glove puppetry (budaixi) is a traditional form of single-hand puppetry popular in southern China and Taiwan for centuries. As a popular folk art, glove puppetry uses material from Chinese classics as well as local legends and stories. Shan Puppet Theatre (Shanwanran) is a unique glove puppetry troupe from Taiwan that incorporates traditional Hakka music and dialogue in their performance. Hakka is a Han Chinese sub-group with distinctive cultures and performing art traditions. The founding director of Shan Puppet Theatre Wu-shan Huang will demonstrate the techniques of glove puppetry and perform a few short pieces, which will be accompanied by Shang-hang Lin with live traditional Hakka music. Chee-Hann Wu will translate for Mr. Huang.

Wu-shan Huang became a disciple of the renowned Puppet Master Tien-lu Lee at age ten. As a Hakka himself, he also learned Hakka music and opera from Master Bi-xia Lai. He received his MFA in Theatre at Taipei University of the Arts and decided to revive traditional glove puppetry with Hakka artistic elements and modern theatre theories. Shan Puppet theatre was founded in 2002, with the goal of touring every town and village in Taiwan. "Theatre is everywhere."

To know more about Shan Puppet, please visit
http://www.shanpuppet.com.tw/

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