Noel F. Singer

An excellent albeit out-of-print and now hard-to-find introduction to Burmese puppets. This thin but full of information volume covers the historical background, the puppets, how they are assembled, the sequence order of performances by the puppet 'troupe', the spread and decline of puppetry in Myanmar and how puppetry has influenced Burmese theatrical arts in general.

Although there are many 'tourist' puppets for sale in today's Myanmar, the art of the puppet theatre is gradually dying for lack of public funding. Everyone appreciates that there are many sectors that need attention in Myanmar, and one can rightly ask, "Why puppetry?" but this art form captures so much of Burmese life, folklore, legends, morality and history that it must not and should not be allowed to die. Today, most puppet performances, aside from a few large temple festival performances, usually consists of only a 30 to 45-minute 'collection' of short pieces (the nat kadaw or ritual spiritualists's dance, a battle scene between a tiger and an elephant, and perhaps a few minutes of a classic scene of the old bachelor and spinster.

Puppet performances were traditionally enjoyed by adults and children, often lasting an entire evening into the early hours. Every visitor to Myanmar today should insist upon seeing at least one performance, if even for 30-45 minutes, to show that there is an interest in continuing this beautiful folk art. Some modern puppeteers have Facebook pages and can be googled for performance details. Google Search can also lead you to some excellent sites, as can YouTube. These can do no other than lead you in search of the real thing.… (más)