“First - what exactly is shadow puppet theater?” Hsiao Meng-tung says. SHADOW PLAY IN TAIWAN - YESTERYEAR TO TODAY ( You might also like: Teacher’s Day in Taiwan: A Modern Take on a Confucian Tradition) ▲Simple as it may seem in the front of the screen, a shadow puppeteer actually needs years to master manipulation skills behind the scene. My father retired about 10 years ago, and my brother and I took over.” The duo has since taken the troupe to new heights, including repeat overseas travels to perform in Hong Kong, Macau, and Scotland, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Second, he wanted to teach northern Taiwan’s people about it, with the goal of building up a new audience, one person at a time. First, seeing the dwindling number of troupes around Taiwan, he wanted to preserve this folk art, so important to Taiwan’s cultural history. “That was in the 1990s,” says Hsiao Meng-tung.
In middle age he decided to learn more, and for years would drive to Kaohsiung (高雄) and back on weekends to study under masters, overnighting on Fridays at his Changhua family home.”Įventually, after attaining a level of mastery on his own, he decided to form his own troupe, and the Shadow Legends Drama Group was born. Later, after moving to Taipei for work, he was surprised to find no shadow puppetry troupes here, and that people had little exposure to the form. “After seeing shadow puppetry performed when he was a boy in Changhua (彰化), central Taiwan, he developed a lifelong interest. “We’re carrying on this mission in the name of our father, who founded our group,” he states. Hsiao Meng-tung leads the group with his brother, Hsiao Nai-cheng (蕭乃誠). ORIGINS AND MISSION OF THE SHADOW LEGENDS
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( You might also like: Baosheng Cultural Festival: A Festive Event Full of History, Religion and Community) ▲Shadow Legends Drama Group’s leader Hsiao Meng-tung (left) and his brother Hsiao Nai-cheng (right) took over the troupe their father established, and are committed to spreading shadow puppetry to the world. Troupe leader Hsiao Meng-tung (蕭孟通) explains. It is the mission of Taipei’s Shadow Legends Drama Group (影子傳奇劇團), northern Taiwan’s sole shadow puppetry troupe, to help preserve the island’s shadow play theater traditions. Glove puppetry shares stage with marionette and shadow puppetry, called the “three major puppetry traditions of Taiwan.” As elsewhere around the globe, Taiwan’s traditional folk arts are threatened in the face of the myriad entertainment distractions modern life provides. You may not be so aware of two other forms, however. Its movies have entertained around the globe. In 2020, Chen was awarded Taiwan’s National Cultural Award for his life-long dedication to the art of budaixi.If you’ve an interest in Chinese and specifically Taiwanese traditional folk arts for the stage, there’s a more than even chance you’ve heard of Pili Glove Puppetry (霹靂布袋戲), which has brought Taiwanese glove puppetry to the world’s attention with its mesmerizing “Golden Ray Puppetry (金光布袋戲),” characterized by fantastic battle scenes, brilliantly costumed characters, and bombastic light-and-sound effects.
In 2008, fearing the eventual extinction of budaixi in Taiwan, Chen, then age 77, re-emerged from relative obscurity to form a new group, Chen Hsi-huang Traditional Puppet Troupe. Chen had to be prepared to present whatever was divined. Divination, or moon, blocks would be cast on the site of temples to determine which show the gods wished to watch.
On top of the grueling schedule, programs would often be determined on the spot. Chen, the son of legendary puppeteer Li Tien-lu (1919-1988), was one of the key figures who ushered in the peak of budaixi in Taiwan.ĭuring those years, Chen would give two performances a day. Crowds would throng outside temples to watch epic glove puppetry shows.
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In those years, when TV sets were not yet common, there were few forms of popular entertainment in Taiwan.
The golden age of budaixi in Taiwan was in the 1960s and 1970s. Master Chen demonstrating puppet techniques.
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