Hand Puppetry Unleashes the Tale of Blood Brothers and Heroism
For the 2023 Taiwan Traditional Theatre Festival, the Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company presents their latest production, Blood Brothers, shedding light on the legendary Chinese tale of brotherhood and heroism.
Worth the journey: ★★★★★
Before the play begins, the four puppets are seen being placed on a wooden chair that alines with the seats of the audience. Image courtesy of the Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company
TAIPEI, Taiwan — As part of the 2023 Taiwan Traditional Theatre Festival’s flagship production, the Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company (真快樂掌中劇團) staged their latest production, Blood Brothers (壵), at the Taiwan Traditional Theatre Centre from April 13th to 16th.
The play begins with an unconventional scene, where a woman dressed in typical Taiwanese middle-aged attire enters the stage. As she tidies up the stage with a wireless vacuum cleaner, a large silk canopy descends from above. The canopy's white colour is tinted with a beautiful iridescent blue hue by the lighting. In the center of the canopy lies a white dress. The woman walks towards it with her back to the audience, and puts it on, transforming into the Earth Mother.
The Earth Mother captivates the audience with her mesmerizing chants about the origin of the universe and how all humans are shaped from soil. This recalls Chinese mythology that tells the story of Nuwa, the mother goddess, who molded the first human beings out of clay.
After the chants, two experienced puppeteers step forward to the front of the stage and take the four puppets that have been resting on a wooden chair before the show began. Each puppeteer operates two puppets, one on each hand. Meanwhile, the narrator, Ke Jia-Tsai, leader of the Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company, takes a seat on the emptied wooden chair — placed at the center of the audience — and begins to narrate the dialogue of the puppets onstage. The ritualistic preparations, which have become a performance in their own right, build anticipation among the audience, setting the stage for what is to come.
Ke Jia-Tsai, troupe leader of the Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company, is responsible for narrating the dialogue of the puppets onstage. Image courtesy of the Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company
Blood Brothers draws its inspiration from the legendary story of brotherhood, “The Sacrifice of Yang Jiao-Ai” (羊角哀捨命全交), written by Ming-dynasty author Feng Meng-Long (馮夢龍). The story begins with Zuo Bo-Tao (左伯桃), who hears that the King of Chu is seeking talented individuals. He embarks on a journey to the kingdom of Chu and meets Yang Jiao-Ai (羊角哀) on the way. After becoming sworn brothers, Zuo urges Yang to use his talent to serve the nation and convinces him to travel together to the State of Chu. However, their journey becomes increasingly difficult as the snow grows heavier.
The troupe presents a beautiful interpretation of this scene where the two brothers traverse through the snow. The Earth Mother's water sleeves and her elongated robes are used to create a stunning snow-covered landscape, adding to the visual spectacle of the performance.
As the journey progresses, the brothers begin to run out of food, and their body suffer from the harsh cold. In a selfless act of sacrifice, Zuo offers his own clothes to Yang, urging him to continue the journey, and gives his own life.
In the midst of the frozen landscape, we see Zuo lying lifeless in the snow, while Yang mourns his brother's passing. In this scene, the white backdrop emulated by the Earth Mother’s robes is facing the audience, as if providing a bird's-eye view of the scene. This unconventional angle offers a unique and captivating viewing experience for the audience, as traditional hand puppetry is usually viewed from the side rather than from above.
We might have expected the story to end here with Zuo's sacrifice, and the backstage crew thought so too. The lights are suddenly turned on, and the white canopy is dropped to the ground, as if the show had ended. The woman, without her vacuum cleaner this time, returns to the stage, ready to resume her cleaning work. However, the narrator interrupts her, reminding her that the story is not yet over.
The blood brothers Zuo Bo-Tao and Yang Jiao-Ai travels in the snow, not knowing the danger awaiting them. Image courtesy of the Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company
During the performance, the extended robes of the Earth Mother beautifully emulate the diverse snow landscape. Image courtesy of the Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company
The story continues as Yang earns his opportunity to come face to face with the emperor and recounts his brother's sacrifice. Moved by this act of nobility, the emperor offers to name Zuo Bo-Tao a yìshì, or "righteous person," and erects a shrine in his honor. The troupe skillfully blends hand puppetry with shadow puppetry to depict this imperial encounter.
The shrine dedicated to Zuo becomes a popular destination for visitors to pay their respects, surpassing the nearby shrine of Jing Ke, who is famous for his unsuccessful assassination attempt on King Zheng of the Qin state, later known as Qin Shi Huang, the first emperor of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC). The story takes a surprising turn when Yang, in his dream, learns that Jing Ke's ghost is bullying Zuo's spirit in the underworld. In order to rescue his blood brother, Yang takes his own life.
The play reaches its climax as the three spirits engage in a heated battle in the lower realm, arguing over who deserves the title of hero: Jing Ke claims to be the hero, while Zuo and Yang each see the other as the true hero. In the end, it remains unclear who the real hero is, and the play ends with the Earth Mother lamenting how people — even in the afterlife — fight over titles when, ultimately, all lives will return to dust and sand.
Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company's production of Blood Brothers, which concludes with the Earth Mother’s comment on the transient nature of fame, is a fitting contribution to the 2023 Taiwan Traditional Theatre Festival's theme: Hero・Hyperspace.
To explore the multifaceted concept of heroism, the festival's curator, Wu Chi-Feng, has brought together 12 intriguing traditional theatre productions for this year's program, asking questions such as "What makes a hero”, “How do we define heroism", and "Where do we find heroes?" In response, Blood Brothers not only offers the male perspective on the idea of heroism, but also incorporates the Earth Mother's voice to provide a unique female perspective.
Beneath a silk canopy, the Earth Mother delivers a captivating chant that mesmerizes the audience. Image courtesy of the Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company
In Chinese culture, a hero is born when someone makes significant contributions by helping those in need. Their merits are remembered by the common people and, in some cases, they become deified and worshipped after their passing. Two famous examples are Guan Yu (160-220 AD) and Baosheng Dadi (979-1036 AD). The former was a military general revered for his deeds and moral qualities, such as loyalty, bravery, and benevolence, while the latter was a skilled doctor who was credited with performing medical miracles and later worshipped as the Deity of Medicine. Both of these examples, according to the troupe, are heroes shaped by public recognition.
This is different from the idea of an inner-built hero canonised by American writer, Joseph Campbell. In his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Campbell speaks of a hero who undergoes a journey of separation, initiation, and return. Through facing challenges and overcoming obstacles, this hero is transformed from within.
The hero created by the Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company in Blood Brothers is not based on stereotypes from either Eastern or Western cultures. In fact, the Chinese title of the show, Zhuàng (壵), is an archaic form of the character zhuàng (壯), meaning robust, powerful or valiant. When breaking down the composition of this archaic character, we see that it’s an amalgamation of three shì or warriors. Each shì refers to a different type of hero: a noble and virtuous xiánshì, a righteous yìshì who is uncompromising in his principles, and a lièshì who values righteousness over his own life. Through Zhuàng, the Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company provokes a thought-provoking inquiry into the concept of heroism, and challenges the audience to consider whether the pursuit of such a title is truly worth the struggle.
Blood Brothers by the Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company is one of the two flagship productions for the 2023 Taiwan Traditional Theatre Festival that runs through May 28, 2023.