Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Company

Taiwan

The Wedding of the Mice

MUSEU DA MARIONETA
Cloister

20, 21, 22 May at 9.30pm

Artistic director and direction: Robin Ruizendaal Production: Paul Lin Composer: Li Che Yi Actress: Wu Shan Shan Puppeteers: Lai Shi-na, Massimo Godoli Peli, Chang Sheng-po e Chan Yushu Musicians: Lee Che-yi, Chang Shi-neng, Cindy Gonçalves e Sandra Martins Scenography: Zhan Yu Shu Technique: Mista For audiences over: M/6 Time: 45 min. Language: Mandarin with English subtitles

A perfect puppet show that fuses Eastern and Western art. An old lady relives an episode from her childhood, an incident of magic and adventure. As a girl, she mistakenly enters the house of a mouse and becomes acquainted with a pair of mice who are lovers, A-Lang and Pearl. She learns that they may be separated because Pearl’s father is determined to find her a husband according to the mice custom of throwing an embroidered ball. The girl sympathizes with the pair of lovers and uses her wit to help them become husband and wife. Based on a Taiwanese folktale in which mice get married on the third day of the Chinese New Year and households retire early that night, leaving food such as salt, rice and cake crumbs at corners for the newlyweds, “The Wedding of the Mice” is a heartwarming tale of love and humanity. The tale is presented through a charming combination of traditional Chinese rod and Western glove puppetry. Original music performed on Western string instruments is paired with traditional Taiwanese folk song, enhancing the unusual juxtaposition of different cultural art forms.

The company Taiyuan Puppet Theatre was founded by Paul Lin in 2001. The company performs traditional puppet theatre while finding new and creative ways to further enhance the skills of puppeteers such as Chen Xihuang, as well Taiwanese puppet carvers, designers and writers. The company is based at the Lin Liu-Hsin Puppet theatre Museum in Dadaocheng, the old centre of Taipei. Robin Ruizendaal is the creative director, script writer, designer and a researcher with a ph.D. in sinology on Chinese marionette theatre, and director of the Lin Liu-Hsin Puppet theatre Museum. The company has performed in over twenty countries around the world, in many different venues, such as the Purcell Room and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, Casa Mila in Barcelona, the Traditional Opera House in Hanoi, but also in the countryside of Cambodja and Central and South America, and of course, in streets and theatres of old Taipei.