A-Chung offers all things kitsch and funny in `Mad Journey to the West'

If you want to have an easygoing and entertaining Teacher's Day, stay away from the Legislative Yuan, where teachers will be demonstrating and walk south to 228 Memorial Park, where the A-Chung Puppet Show (阿忠藝合團) will give an outdoor performance called A Mad Journey to the West (瘋狂西遊記) at 3:30pm.

Taking its story from the Chinese classic folk tale Monkey: A Journey to the West, A-Chung's mad version uses the same characters from this ancient novel -- the Chinese monk and his three disciples; the monkey king, the pig and the sand spirit -- who travel on foot to India, encountering trials and tribulations along the way.

Here the comparison stops as A-Chung has added extra characters, such as the evil robots who want to eat the monk's food and the Piggy-turned-superman who protects the monk. The monkey role becomes minor, only using his golden bat to put out fires.

"No funny, no pay" has always been the trademark of A-Chung's puppet show. His style is a mixture of traditional puppetry and modern parody expressed in the Taiwanese language. A-Chung has a solid base of traditional skills with 11 years as a puppet apprentice.

But his personal style lies in his heavy use of kitsch. The latest news, soap operas, cartoons and English pop songs can all be seen in his comedy. In Saturday's performance, there will be gaudy settings with his puppets jumping and flying above the stage in time with strangely mixed music.

In August's 10 Puppet Group Marathon Performance in Ilan, this new repertoire was well-received, especially among children. A-Chung was then selected by the Council of Cultural Affairs to perform at Red House (紅樓). For his Ilan show, A-Chung invited the Wall Tigers to play live music for a bewildered audience. He plans to cooperate with the band again for his Oct. 10 show at Red House.