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- Singapore -

Ethnic Chinese takes up 70% of Singapore’s population. As ethnic Chinese people in Singapore were mostly from Fujian, Teochew and other southern coastal regions of China, Fujian glove puppetry, Xinghua string puppetry, Teochew iron rod puppetry, and Hainan rod puppetry were brought to Singapore by the immigrants in the 19th century. Singapore experienced large-scale industrialization after the Second World War. The theatre communities, therefore, also flourished during the period. In fact, Singapore took on an important role in preserving traditional Chinese culture in the past. As most of the traditional cultures were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution in China, overseas Chinese communities served as the leading force for the preservation of the cultures.

However, the government of Singapore regarded dialects, such as Minnan, Teochew, Cantonese and Hakka, as an obstacle to the development of standard English and Chinese in Singapore. A series of Speak Mandarin Campaigns was initiated in 1979. Consequently, traditional puppetry that mainly used dialects was restricted. Religious rituals and festivals decrease due to the urbanization and Westernization of people’s living styles. The blooming of innovative entertainment and media further accelerated the extinction of puppet arts. It was not until the 1990s and early 21st century that traditional puppet troupes were revived with the collaboration of senior puppet masters and puppeteers of the younger generation. Some troupes bring puppetry away from their religious framework to increase the performance opportunities, while others use English to draw more audiences. Additionally, innovation and reformation are also crucial to development.

There is also shadow puppetry in Singapore, influenced mainly by Indonesian Wayang tradition and Chinese traditional shadow theatre. Incorporating local culture, shadow puppetry with Singaporean features was popular around the time of the Second World War. Unfortunately, shadow puppetry gradually disappeared when the last dalang of Singapore passed away in 1985. It was until “The Finger Players” and “Paper Monkey Theatre” were established that shadow puppetry reappeared on the stage.