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Before the show, the MC sets the stage with a little background.
In this instance, the MC was also the puppeteer. |
Back from Japan and fully covered from the trip ~ I ventured out this past weekend to see a puppet show with some friends. It was a traditional Chinese hand puppet show that lasted about an hour and a half and was in Mandarin - obviously! This particular presentation was in a very small room that seemed to be filled with mostly elderly people or couples with children.
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| Some of the puppets - I wish I had close up pictures! |
The show was really interesting to watch (of course, I was making up the plot line in my head as we went along). It would be neat to see another show sometime when I could have an English description or a little background given to me before watching :) Mostly, I just enjoyed the costumes and the dramatic voices. Mandarin or not, you could still tell what tone the conversation was taking at any moment.
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| Fight Scene |
The fight scenes were fun - no blood & gore, since we are talking about puppets - they were almost like dances. I can see where the fight scenes in some Asian films may have found their inspiration. I only regret that I was not close enough to get a really great photo of the costumes for you all! They were AMAZING. These puppets were so detailed and ornate, I would happily place one on display in my home... maybe I will buy one at some future date!
Hey, Lizzie
ReplyDeleteFrom what I gather, palm puppets are huge in Taiwan. One of their biggest TV shows there is called Pili (霹靂), which is a palm puppet show that's been going on since the 1980s. Here's the intro to one of the show's more recent seasons:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2864007057476797389#
And yes, like you, I'd love to have one of those palm puppets :D