Myanmar puppet troupe to join Chiang Mai’s International Puppets Festival

Published on Wednesday, 30 November -0001 06:24

A puppet troupe from Myanmar will participate in the International Puppets Festival to be be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand in February.

The event is being carried out under the ASEAN Enchanting Puppets.

“Marionette troupes from ASEAN countries will participate in the event. Five members of each troupe have been invited. The organizers of the event has not informed us about performance type yet,” said     Khin Maung Htwe, director of the Htwe Oo Puppet Troupe.

The event, from February 22-24, 2013, will be co-organised by Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) and Chiang Mai University.

The unique thing of Htwe Oo Myanmar Traditional Puppet Show, is that the male and female puppets are manipulated by the puppeteers of the same gender.

A male puppet is controlled only by a man and a female puppet is only by a woman.

Generally, a Myanmar wood marionette pieces are  made up of 17 clowns, 18 prince and 19 princess.

It was a valued entertainment of the courts that came to popular audiences, especially during the 1950s.

The traditional puppet theatre of Myanmar has experienced a severe decline in various historical phrases, particularly from the World War II to the late 1980s when, according to some accounts, the art was in danger of disappearing.

Revival of the art is being led by the Mandalay Marionettes, and a division of puppetry has been instituted at the Yangon University of Culture.

The Htwe Oo Myanmar Traditional Puppet Theatre has performed in a number of foreign countries, and its work has received international recognition as a bastion of traditional Myanmar marionette puppetry. The company also participated in ASEAN Puppetry Festival 2012 in Singapore.