Quanzhou Marionette Troupe in Melbourne
(photo taken at Unima 2008 at the Transit Lounge)
Drawing on two thousand years of marionette history, the renowned Quanzhou Marionette Troupe will travel to Melbourne to perform their magical theatre in late June and early July 2008.
A cultural treasure of China’s Fujian Province, and one of the best known professional artistic performing groups in China, the Quanzhou Marionette Troupe was established in 1952. Since then, they have performed all over China and in over 40 countries around the world.
The puppeteer has a special place among Chinese performing artists. Delighting audiences with their life-like puppets, master puppeteers manipulate single or groups of strings with their fingers. These expressive puppets portray men and women of all ages and professions, spirits and wild animals. Puppeteers, who often begin training as children, may take five years to learn basic techniques, and over 20 years to completely master more than 30 strings of the more complex puppets.
Animating the marionette’s body, enabling the character to express lifelike and vivid movements, the Quanzhou Marionette Troupe’s repertoire includes historic tales, children’s plays and modern stories. Eight of the Troupe will perform their magical theatre for Melbourne audiences in late June and early July. These amazing and skillful puppeteers are not to be missed!
For details of performance times and workshop opportunities, please check here. Please note that performances run to Thursday 3rd (not 4th).
To see a short video of the troupe in action, check the Chinese Museum page here.
(thanks to Tirese Ballard, Art Link Co-ordinator at Polyglot Theatre)
Tags: puppetry, puppets, unima australia, unima, australia

