Puppeteers from France, Germany, Burma, Thailand and Cambodia have been working together since mid-October to build a performance on the theme of “Home.”
The name of the project is “Puppets Beyond Borders” and, as they explained yesterday at a news conference, the show they will present in Phnom Penh on Friday and Saturday is meant to illustrate just that: puppets as diverse as the cultures they come from but telling a story on a universal theme.
Artists from each country have developed mini-stories meant to reflect the notion of “home” in general and in their respective cultures, explained Manuel Lutgenhorst, the show’s German artistic director.
Cambodian composer Keo Dorivan of the Royal University of Fine Arts and Thai composer Anant Narkkong worked on arrangements to create musical harmony from one segment of the show to the next since each country’s story will come with its own music, they said. Most of the music will be performed live, they added.
The puppeteers’ styles could not be more different. “Les Remouleurs” puppet theater company from Paris will be using a technique based on a 300-year-old process to project giant color images of small puppets being manipulated in a box.
The French puppets made of foam make for endearing characters, while the traditional Burmese puppets on strings of the Htwe Oo Myanmar company can only be described as majestic. The tradition of puppetry goes back centuries in Burma, and today’s challenge for puppeteers is to expand their ancestral tale collection with contemporary stories, the company’s artistic director Khin Maung Htwe said.
The Royal University of Fine Arts’ Theater Department will also perform at the show.
At the news conference, Mr Narkkong paid homage to Cambodia’s puppet tradition, pointing out that Lakhaon Sbaek Thom are on the list of “Masterpieces of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity” administered by Unesco.
The project is funded by France and Germany through their Elysee Fund, said Olivier Planchon, deputy director of the Institut Francais and the French Embassy’s cultural attache. It is supported by the Institut Francais in Cambodia and in Burma, Meta House in Phnom Penh, the Goethe-Institut Indonesia and the art center Empty Space Chiangmai, he said.
This project was an opportunity for the artists to explore new approaches, such as the French and German companies’ lighting techniques, said Pok Sarann, deputy director for the Ministry of Culture’s Department of Performing Arts. Artists like to experiment, he said. “One does not always want to eat the same dish,” he said.
The show was presented in Chiang Mai last week and will be staged in Rangoon next week.
The performances on Friday and Saturday will be at the theater of the Department of Performing Arts, located behind the Spark nightclub and accessible through Street 173 off Mao Tse Tung Boulevard.
Admission is free and children are welcome.