[Teochew Puppet and Opera House]
- 潮 藝 館 -
Penang, Malaysia 馬來西亞檳城
Teochew Puppet and Opera House was founded by Ling Goh in Penang, Malaysia. The troupe is dedicated to promoting Teochew drama, puppetry and other theatrical traditions. Teochew Puppet and Opera House has been actively participating in art festivals globally in the past few years. They have been promoting Teochew theatre to audiences around the world through open public performances. Meanwhile, they also adopt innovative ways of performance and advertisement to draw audiences of younger generations to learn about the traditional arts.
潮藝舘由吳慧玲女士於馬來西亞檳城創辦,致力於弘揚潮州戲劇及木偶戯等傳統戲劇文化,潮藝館這些年來在世界各地的藝術節積極參與演出,也透過公開演出來宣傳潮州戲劇,讓各地觀眾有機會觀賞演出。同時也運用創新的演出方式及宣傳手段來吸引新一代觀衆來瞭解、學習。
Ling Goh’s Teochew puppetry uses iron rod puppets. A puppet is usually performed by one puppeteer. Unlike traditional glove puppetry in Taiwan in which all the lines are delivered by one person, Teochew puppetry has at least two (mostly two to three) performers in charge of all characters of a play which is usually around three hours long.
In the past, most of the puppets were built by the members themselves. As they are getting busier performing recently and the transportation between China gets easier, most of the puppets are purchased from Teochew, China.
Teochew puppetry uses Teochew operatic singings. Most of the troupe’s performances in temples remain traditional. Innovative and reformative shows are mainly staged in theatre, schools, events, art festivals and other places. Though most contemporary audiences do not understand the dialect, the troupe still believes that it is crucial to maintain this theatrical tradition.
The stories performed include Chinese historical stories, folklore, etc. Teochew Puppet and Opera House has recently started to innovate their plays in the past two years, such as composing Malaysian stories with the members. Before they started this attempt, most of their innovation focus on changing the formats, like editing traditional stories to make them briefer and making their performances more similar to the format of modern theatre. Back then, the stories had not yet been localized.
吳慧玲繼承的潮州木偶戲,使用的是鐵枝木偶。一個偶通常由一個人操作,而演出方式不像台灣布袋戲是一人負責所有台詞,潮州戲最少由兩人,通常是兩到三人,扮演長度約三個小時戲中的所有角色。
過去偶都是劇團成員自己做,近代大家因為演出比較忙,也因為跟中國聯繫較容易,從中國潮州訂購的情況比較多。
潮州木偶戲的演出唱的是潮調,在神廟還是維持傳統的演出,創新和改革的演出則是多在劇場、學校、活動、藝術節等。雖然現在的觀眾大多都聽不懂方言,但劇團仍認為需要保持這項演出傳統。
傳統演出的故事包括中國的歷史故事、民間故事等等。潮藝館近兩年的製作才開始嘗試劇本的創新,如新編馬來西亞的故事,由劇團成員依據共同的主題一起創作。在此之前的創新僅是改變形式,像是將傳統故事改編得更簡短,演出形式也更靠近現代劇場,但沒有把整個故事真正改編成本地的故事。
Teochew Puppet and Opera House’s performances can be divided into two major categories: the traditional and the innovative. Traditional performances are drama for god worshipping in Chinese temples with a- 180 shows each year. Other performances usually take place in a theatre space with less than 100 seats as there are fewer audiences for this kind of puppet shows.
Every traditional temple performance involves at least seven and at most 18 performers. In a show with seven performers, there usually are two puppeteers, and other musicians and drummers. As for the show with 18 performers, there are seven puppeteers so that each of them can control different puppets for a more exquisite performance. Such performance also has a bigger band.
Ling Goh shared, the difference between traditional and modern theatre lies in--the traditional stage has a frame while the modern stage doesn’t. Without such a frame, the staging is more flexible, and puppeteers can move freely on the stage.
潮藝館的演出分為傳統和創新:傳統在華人的神廟演出的酬神戲,一年大致會上演180場;在劇場的演出通常是在100席以內的小劇場,因為偶戲觀眾群比較少。
傳統在神廟的演出,一場最少七個表演者,最多十八人演一台戲。七人包含兩個偶師,其他是樂師、鼓手;十八人包含七個偶師,因為較精緻的演出需要不同偶師去操不同偶,樂隊也比較大一點。
吳慧玲表示,傳統舞台跟現代舞台不同之處在於傳統舞台有框架,現代舞台則無,舞台比較靈活,偶師可以在場上自由活動。
Teochew Puppet and Opera House has been invited to several international art festivals in the past few years, and have been to Taiwan twice before. They were invited to perform at the 2013 Close To You Puppet Festival in Dadaocheng, Taipei, and went to Changhua in 2019. In the 2000s, Ling Goh saw puppetmaster and scholar, Robin Ruizendaal’s puppet show in Penang, Malaysia, and had a chance to visit Taiyuan Asian Puppet Theatre Museum thereafter.
近幾年潮藝館會受邀參加國外的藝術節,也曾兩次到訪台灣,分別為 2013 年參加大稻埕超親密小細節,2019 年則是去彰化。2000 年代時,因為在檳城看過羅斌館長的偶戲而結識,吳慧玲也參觀過台原亞洲偶戲館。
During an interview with Ling God, we felt her industriousness and a strong sense of vocation as the successor to a traditional theatre troupe. The family troupe’s traditional skills were not commonly respected in the past. Consequently, even though people are getting more conscious about the preservation of traditional cultures and arts, traditional performing arts still face challenges regarding the increasing distance with contemporary audiences resulting from the changing lifestyle, extinction of dialects and the disconnection between traditional and modern theatre space.
There are two major directions for Teochew Puppet and Opera House to overcome the difficulties: to pass on the traditions, and to innovate the form of performance. In addition to the family inheritance which includes family members from the next generation to participate in the temple performances, Teochew Puppet and Opera House has also been focusing on public education in the past three years through theatre performances, participation in art festivals and hosting events at school.
In the past two years, Teochew Puppet and Opera House has also set their hands on the project of new story adaptations, and on performing local Malaysian legends. While sustaining the traditional skills from Teochew, China, they are also trying to build connections with Malaysian youngsters. Additionally, through making short videos, Teochew Puppet and Opera House attempts to introduce Teochew puppetry to more contemporary audiences.
吳慧玲訪談的過程中,我們能感受到她身為傳統劇團接班人的刻苦耐勞和強烈的使命感。從小時候家族的技藝不受到社會普遍價值的重視,以致現今雖然傳統文化、藝術保存的意識抬高,卻也面臨了由於生活步調變快、方言逐漸失傳、廟會與劇場的場域斷裂等因素,使得傳統表演藝術逐漸與現代觀眾遠離的危機。
吳慧玲看著傳統偶戲沒落的過程,卻也肯定自己這幾年的努力帶來的成績。
潮藝館以兩條路線嘗試走出困境:一是傳承,二是創新。
除了家族內的傳承,讓家族中下一代成員加入廟會酬神演出,潮藝館也在近三年開始以教育大眾為主要方向,並且在劇場售票演出,或參與藝術節、學校等活動。
近兩年來,潮藝館開始新編故事的計畫,演出馬來西亞本土傳奇故事,延續這門來自中國潮州技藝的同時,也試圖和馬來西亞本土年輕人拉近距離;另外,他們透過短片的製作,試圖讓潮州木偶戲進入現代人的眼簾。
Photo Credit: Teochew Puppet and Opera House