When the we first learned that Thalie Theatre started a children's theater troupe this past summer it came as a shock -- Taipei's foreign absurdist dramaturges were going to frighten little children with the grimmest of Grimm's fairy tales, we thought. We were waiting for an original version of Cinderella in which the wicked step sister's eyes were pecked out on stage to the horror of a class of five-year-olds.
Our fears were allayed after talking to Ellie Hsiao (
"I've wanted to translate Taiwanese children's stories into English for a long time," she said. "It would bring the stories to an audience [of foreigners] that aren't familiar with them and would let Taiwanese kids see them in English."
She initially approached several Taiwanese theater companies, but Hsiao said they were reticent to invest their time and energy in an audience for whom they'd never performed.
She found support both at Thalie, a group she's been associated with for the past two years, and at Yungho's IDEAR Education Center. Spotted Cow was first staged in Chinese last month with IDEAR's support (unlike Thalie's main troupe, the children's theater group is all Taiwanese) and they have invited the troupe to perform an English-language version this weekend.
Spotted Cow first came about six years ago through the Nordhoff Craniofacial Foundation. The Taiwan-based foundation is the life's work of Dr. Samuel Nordhoff, who spent 40 years here repairing the smiles of over 10,000 children with primary cleft palette, or hairlip. The foundation wanted a children's book that would brighten their young patient's spirits.
The story's bovine protagonist has a target-shaped mark on its face and his classmates ridicule him for it. His family offers their love and support, but Spotted Cow still despairs. He is gifted with a wonderful singing voice and his parents suggest that he join a contest to find the most talented cow in town. He joins grudgingly, but only after his family members agree to draw similar marks on their faces so that he won't feel different. He wins the contest and the hearts of everyone in town, including the young cows who teased him.
"It's a very simple story," Hsiao said, "but it has a very good lesson."
For your information :
Spotted Cow plays tomorrow at 2:30pm, at the IDEAR Education Center located, 99 Chilin Rd in Taipei's Zhongshan District (
In late October of 1873 the government of Japan decided against sending a military expedition to Korea to force that nation to open trade relations. Across the government supporters of the expedition resigned immediately. The spectacle of revolt by disaffected samurai began to loom over Japanese politics. In January of 1874 disaffected samurai attacked a senior minister in Tokyo. A month later, a group of pro-Korea expedition and anti-foreign elements from Saga prefecture in Kyushu revolted, driven in part by high food prices stemming from poor harvests. Their leader, according to Edward Drea’s classic Japan’s Imperial Army, was a samurai
Located down a sideroad in old Wanhua District (萬華區), Waley Art (水谷藝術) has an established reputation for curating some of the more provocative indie art exhibitions in Taipei. And this month is no exception. Beyond the innocuous facade of a shophouse, the full three stories of the gallery space (including the basement) have been taken over by photographs, installation videos and abstract images courtesy of two creatives who hail from the opposite ends of the earth, Taiwan’s Hsu Yi-ting (許懿婷) and Germany’s Benjamin Janzen. “In 2019, I had an art residency in Europe,” Hsu says. “I met Benjamin in the lobby
April 22 to April 28 The true identity of the mastermind behind the Demon Gang (魔鬼黨) was undoubtedly on the minds of countless schoolchildren in late 1958. In the days leading up to the big reveal, more than 10,000 guesses were sent to Ta Hwa Publishing Co (大華文化社) for a chance to win prizes. The smash success of the comic series Great Battle Against the Demon Gang (大戰魔鬼黨) came as a surprise to author Yeh Hung-chia (葉宏甲), who had long given up on his dream after being jailed for 10 months in 1947 over political cartoons. Protagonist
The following three paragraphs are just some of what the local Chinese-language press is reporting on breathlessly and following every twist and turn with the eagerness of a soap opera fan. For many English-language readers, it probably comes across as incomprehensibly opaque, so bear with me briefly dear reader: To the surprise of many, former pop singer and Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) ex-lawmaker Yu Tien (余天) of the Taiwan Normal Country Promotion Association (TNCPA) at the last minute dropped out of the running for committee chair of the DPP’s New Taipei City chapter, paving the way for DPP legislator Su