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 (
Exceptions to the rule are sometimes revealing. For a brief few years, there was an emerging ideological split between the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) that appeared to be pushing the DPP in a direction that would be considered more liberal, and the KMT more conservative. In the previous column, “The KMT-DPP’s bureaucrat-led developmental state” (Dec. 11, page 12), we examined how Taiwan’s democratic system developed, and how both the two main parties largely accepted a similar consensus on how Taiwan should be run domestically and did not split along the left-right lines more familiar in
As I finally slid into the warm embrace of the hot, clifftop pool, it was a serene moment of reflection. The sound of the river reflected off the cave walls, the white of our camping lights reflected off the dark, shimmering surface of the water, and I reflected on how fortunate I was to be here. After all, the beautiful walk through narrow canyons that had brought us here had been inaccessible for five years — and will be again soon. The day had started at the Huisun Forest Area (惠蓀林場), at the end of Nantou County Route 80, north and east
Specialty sandwiches loaded with the contents of an entire charcuterie board, overflowing with sauces, creams and all manner of creative add-ons, is perhaps one of the biggest global food trends of this year. From London to New York, lines form down the block for mortadella, burrata, pistachio and more stuffed between slices of fresh sourdough, rye or focaccia. To try the trend in Taipei, Munchies Mafia is for sure the spot — could this be the best sandwich in town? Carlos from Spain and Sergio from Mexico opened this spot just seven months ago. The two met working in the
This month the government ordered a one-year block of Xiaohongshu (小紅書) or Rednote, a Chinese social media platform with more than 3 million users in Taiwan. The government pointed to widespread fraud activity on the platform, along with cybersecurity failures. Officials said that they had reached out to the company and asked it to change. However, they received no response. The pro-China parties, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), immediately swung into action, denouncing the ban as an attack on free speech. This “free speech” claim was then echoed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC),
RSS