Burmese Puppets by Noel F. Singer
Overview
This book traces the development of puppetry from the first recorded existence in Burma in 1444 to modern times from a collection of Burmese writers. It also covers the traditions of Burmese puppetry including the vocalist and the puppeteer and how puppetry has influenced dance, crafts and literature in Burma.
Links to the Puppeteer and Puppet
Puppet theatre to the Burmese was very popular because it was an escape from the harshness of their daily lives and also to hear corruption and injustice be criticized as a form of protest, which was denied to even actors and was punishable by death. The Burmese puppet troupes consisted of both the puppeteers and vocalist, however the vocalists were senior to the puppeteers because they thought that no matter what the puppet did, it was the voice that held the audience’s attention. Traditionally, they also thought of the female sex to be unclean so a woman was not permitted on stage, or else the stage would be ‘defiled’ by her. This is interesting to the modern puppeteer because it brings up the question as to whether the puppet and the movement alone are strong enough to hold an audiences attention without adding voice? Does music make the piece stronger? Like some other types of traditional puppetry (ie: Japanese) why are women not allowed to be puppeteers?
Interesting ideas
“The Burmese believed that the human life cycle from birth, childhood to adulthood and old age was represented in the sequence of events enacted by the marionettes. Like the performance itself, one’s life, which is mixed with happiness and sorrow, must one day come to an end.”
There are 28 traditional Burmese Puppets, which represent the 28 attributes that make up the human body in Buddhism.
Live performances could be up to 45 nights long.
Burmese dancers imitate the movements of the traditional puppets by incorporating high jumps and spins.
Singer, N. (1992). Burmese Puppets. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Great review Kat - you asked some very thought-provoking questions. I was thinking about your last question, referring to the exclusion of female puppeteers in certain traditional puppetry. It made me think of an article I read about traditional Vietnamese water puppetry, which used to be exclusively for male puppeteers. This artform was (and is) veiled in secrecy. Performances were localised, and each village had their own special techniques in making and operating the puppets - techniques that were fiercely guarded from outsiders. The reason why women were once barred from participating in guilds was because they would marry out of the village, and therefore potentially reveal guild secrets to rivalling villages (Jones, 1996, cited in Foley, 2001).
ReplyDeleteSo there's another reason to add to why women have been excluded from puppetry in different cultures (For the Burmese, it was fear of 'defiling' the artform; For the Vietnamese, it was fear of revealing the artform.. and general mistrust in women!).
Foley, K. (2001). The Metonymy of Art: Vietnamese Water Puppetry As a Representation of Modern Vietnam. TDR, 45(4), 129-141.
At last a discussion trying to happen! Thanks for your contributions both of you. As we prepare for the next module when everyone will need an opinion about women in performance this is a good start.
ReplyDelete