For its debut performance in Taiwan, German puppet group Figuren Theater Tubingen will perform Salto.Lamento, or the “nocturnal side of affairs.”
The award-winning production was inspired by the medieval iconography of the Dance of Death, a funeral rite practiced when Europe lost much of its population to the Black Death during the 14th century.
Acclaimed German puppeteer Frank Soehnle, who cofounded the group with Karin Ersching in 1991, says that puppetry is a good vehicle for presenting skeletons dancing with people, which also reminds him of the relationship between himself and his puppet.
Photo Courtesy of Figuren Theater Tubingen
“In puppetry, you don’t look only at the puppets. You also look at the puppeteer and what is happening in this [puppeteer-puppet] relationship. It’s like a dance. It’s like giving life or taking death from one to the other,” Soehnle told the Taipei Times.
Without one uttered word, the piece is an exquisite danse macabre between the sole puppeteer and his array of puppets. They depict various characters, from a flirtatious half-woman, half-horse puppet to a monastic figure and a naughty sheep-goat creation. The performance is composed of vignettes choreographed to live music by Johannes Frisch and Stefan Mertin, who have been working with Soehnle since their first collaboration 20 years ago.
Like an alchemist, Soehnle instills life into the inert figures with a superb artistry. He exerts a light twist of the strings or a slight maneuver of a stick and the puppets swing into action as if they were completely autonomous. The interplay between life and death finds its most intense manifestation when a life-size masked faun manages to sever its strings and gain freedom. But the creature soon suffers the consequences of its actions and falls lifeless to the floor.
Inhabited by skeletal figures and chimeric creatures, the world of Salto.Lamento is as nightmarish and somber as it is playful and comical. Some puppets display a zany sense of humor, like a fussy devilish figure that demands live accompaniment from the musician duo when he sweeps and cleans.
Frisch and Mertin, who play live on stage, interact and communicate with the puppets with their instruments.
“The music is never the same,” the 48-year-old puppeteer said. “It is breathing with the whole performance.”
After five sold-out performances in Taipei last week, the group moves on to Tainan tomorrow.
Jason Han says that the e-arrival card spat between South Korea and Taiwan shows that Seoul is signaling adherence to its “one-China” policy, while Taiwan’s response reflects a reciprocal approach. “Attempts to alter the diplomatic status quo often lead to tit-for-tat responses,” the analyst on international affairs tells the Taipei Times, adding that Taiwan may become more cautious in its dealings with South Korea going forward. Taipei has called on Seoul to correct its electronic entry system, which currently lists Taiwan as “China (Taiwan),” warning that reciprocal measures may follow if the wording is not changed before March 31. As of yesterday,
The Portuguese never established a presence on Taiwan, but they must have traded with the indigenous people because later traders reported that the locals referred to parts of deer using Portuguese words. What goods might the Portuguese have offered their indigenous trade partners? Among them must have been slaves, for the Portuguese dealt slaves across Asia. Though we often speak of “Portuguese” ships, imagining them as picturesque vessels manned by pointy-bearded Iberians, in Asia Portuguese shipping between local destinations was crewed by Asian seamen, with a handful of white or Eurasian officers. “Even the great carracks of 1,000-2,000 tons which plied
It’s only half the size of its more famous counterpart in Taipei, but the Botanical Garden of the National Museum of Nature Science (NMNS, 國立自然科學博物館植物園) is surely one of urban Taiwan’s most inviting green spaces. Covering 4.5 hectares immediately northeast of the government-run museum in Taichung’s North District (北區), the garden features more than 700 plant species, many of which are labeled in Chinese but not in English. Since its establishment in 1999, the site’s managers have done their best to replicate a number of native ecosystems, dividing the site into eight areas. The name of the Coral Atoll Zone might
Nuclear power is getting a second look in Southeast Asia as countries prepare to meet surging energy demand as they vie for artificial intelligence-focused data centers. Several Southeast Asian nations are reviving mothballed nuclear plans and setting ambitious targets and nearly half of the region could, if they pursue those goals, have nuclear energy in the 2030s. Even countries without current plans have signaled their interest. Southeast Asia has never produced a single watt of nuclear energy, despite long-held atomic ambitions. But that may soon change as pressure mounts to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change, while meeting growing power needs. The
RSS