UNITED KINGDOM: MEMBERS OF THE QUANZHOU MARIONETTE THEATRE ARE TEACHING BRITISH PUPPETEERS ABOUT CHINESE PUPPETS

Record ID: 388954

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: MEMBERS OF THE QUANZHOU MARIONETTE THEATRE ARE TEACHING BRITISH PUPPETEERS ABOUT CHINESE PUPPETS
  • Date: 29th February 2000
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JANUARY 31, 2000) (REUTERS TELEVISION) VARIOUS OF LANTERN FESTIVAL PIECE
  • Embargoed: 15th March 2000 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVABFU64QN97Z2ED49ZFGZRPDDQF
  • Story Text: Somersaulting through the air while juggling is no easy feat, especially when it's an action performed by a puppet.But the highly trained members of the Quanzhou Marionette Theatre (pronounced Quanjoe) have been pulling strings since they were 12 years old and now they are teaching the British a thing or two about the ancient art of puppetry.
    The Quanzhou Marionette Theatre has been ringing in the Chinese year of the dragon in London with a tumbling, juggling and acrobatic show of puppet prowess.The troupe from China's Fujian province manoeuvres the marionettes to re-enact some of China's most ancient folk stories, festivals and traditions.Here the Chinese puppeteers perform their own version of the lion dance to drive away bad spirits.It's a ritual that began nearly two thousand years ago, as far back as the classic art of puppetry itself.
    The city of Quanzhou is renowned throughout China for its skills in puppetry.Puppeteers from the Quanzhou Marionette Theatre train for the minimum of five years to master the most basic of marionette movements, which resemble the stylised moves synonymous with Peking opera.
    It takes years of practice to perfect the subtle movements brought to life in Chinese puppetry.But 11 British puppeteers and puppet lovers have flocked to a three day workshop in London's Little Angel Puppet Theatre to gleen some of the tricks of the trade from the masters themselves.
    Over the three days five masters will be teaching the British puppeteers the basic techniques needed to move a puppet's head and arms, while walking....Chinese style.
    British puppeteer Sue Dacre says: "the movement always looks Chinese and they are using are puppets I think it is do do with the almost minuteness of their movements.It is almost poetic in a way, which is not to say that they aren't in our tradition but it is something to do with the smallness even when they are doing big routines it is the tiniest of details and thoughts which are wonderful".
    Christopher Leith has been working with marionettes for more than 35 years.But despite his experience, he's finding it hard.
    Leith says: "It is difficult it is a bit like trying to scratch your head and rub your stomach at the same time.It's like trying to do two different qualities of movement at the same time to achieve one movement at the same time and that's tricky.....it is tiring, the Chinese hold their controls very high in the air.I guess we'll get used to it.But I believe they start very young holding weights in their hands to get the arms strong.Perhaps even before they start working with puppets.We tend to work with the puppets at elbow height which is a bit easier on the body.It is a challenge".
    But Wie (pronounced Whey) Hong thinks the English students will be up to scratch in a couple of years.That may seem a while, but by Chinese standards, they have been put on the fast track.
    Wie Hong says: "because all the students are professional puppeteers, they have all learned the basic movements very quickly and they are progressing fast, because there are similarities between eastern and western styles".
    Many students in China start to learn the craft from the age of 12.At the Quanzhou Marionette Theatre more than 30 puppeteers choreograph with the puppets' movements while singing to the tunes of a full Chinese orchestra.
    Dacre says: "I think they are wonderful.They are very very patient and I do wonder what they feel about western puppeteers coming in on a three day workshop to do something that there is a tradition that they have done since birth almost and been born into I hope that they don't find it insulting that we can do it in three days and get something out of it.I hope some of their skills will rub off".
    Each Chinese puppet has 14 to 36 strings connected to its head, shoulders, waist, hands and feet.And it can take a puppeteer 20 years to learn to expertly manipulate them all to minute detail.In Britain there are fewer strings, so the marionette's movements are less intricate.
    Leith says: "in England we tend to work a lot from the control but in China they seem to use their fingers a lot and they have many more strings than we usually do and they use the fingers to take groups of strings and use them in an expressive way that's the challenge for me because I am not trained to work that way.It's dexterity of fingers may be I'm learning perhaps with the strings".
    The British puppeteers say they are always on the lookout for new influences and believe that the two styles complement each other.
    Leith says: "so what I'm gathering from this is perhaps new ways of using the control the bit at the top which holds the strings and I find that very exciting because it liberates me from the techniques that I've been using for many many years.I've always been exploring quite a lot, it is really hands on to something that is quite strange and new and I'm enjoying that very much indeed".
    East meets West in London's Little Angel Puppet theatre, but no one style wins over.
    Wong says: "the secret is the technique and getting the performance to actually touch people's hearts, audiences hearts and that is what makes people come back again".
    That's something that both eastern and western puppeteers can pull off -- with no strings attached.
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