Burmese marionettes
Description: Burmese marionettes
"Burmese Marionettes,'' by Deedok Ba Cho, first published in 1941, in The Union Gazette, was translated into English and reprinted in Forward (August, 1964). This is a condensation of the original.
Since independence, the Burmese government under U Nu and General Ne Win has given assistance and encouragement to the revival of the traditional theater arts, including marionette shows (yokthe pwes). Young people are being trained as puppeteers in the state schools of fine arts and drama of Rangoon and Mandalay.
The Burmese marionette show is not a fun-fair kind of show such as the Punch and Judy of the West. It is not light entertainment. It is the real thing-a serious art presenting full-length dramas to adult audiences. It is a whole-night's affair with beginning, middle, and end. The marionettes are serious substitutes for human players.
The probable origin of the Burmese marionette show was about 175 years ago, in the latter half of the eighteenth century. The then Minister for Royal Entertainment, U Thaw, was the originator of the marionette idea during the reign of Nga Sint Gu Min, who ascended the throne in 1778.
Burmese marionette plays not only preceded the Burmese zat (classical drama); they also superseded them in public esteem. The reason the marionettes found favor with the Burmese public of those days may be the same reason that the ordinary Burmese zat, with its enacting of dramas, tragedies, comedies, and burlesque, was so late in coming. The Burmese are a modest people. A man and a woman, unless man and wife, are not supposed to be seen even walking along the street in company, be they old or young. Familiarity between the sexes is so frowned upon by society that even the simulation by actors on the stage of love and love-making is not easy to swallow. When the Burmese zat made its appearance and love-making was done on the stage, many eyes could not bear to look at it. Live players who go on the stage and make a public spectacle of themselves lose much that is dear to self-respect. Therein lies the reason why the marionette show developed to such a high level and found such popularity in Burma, quite beyond the reach of similar shows in other countries, even Java with its shadow plays. Wooden figures doing duty for flesh and blood, morality is satisfied. Even Burmese modesty cannot take exception to little figures of wood play-acting on the stage.
So, Burmese marionettes achieved a stage of development unparalleled elsewhere in the world. We must attribute this phenomenon to the genius of U Thaw, who brought the Burmese marionette theater into being as a full-blown" art form.
Here is the list of twenty-seven figures which our marionette show must have: two worshipers, one horse, two elephants (one white, one black), one tiger, one monkey, two parrots, one sorcerer, four ministers, one king, one prince, one princess, two princes regent (one white-faced, one red-faced), one astrologer, one hermit, one nat, one maha-deva, one old man, two buffoons.
This full company was required from the beginning of the marionette tradition. Why such a large company? The Burmese marionette show is a night-long affair divided into two sessions. The first is largely devoted to attracting the audience to the show. Provision is made in it to amuse young and old. In the second session, the play of the night is enacted from beginning to end in proper order. A smaller company could not possibly be adequate to the situation.
Five-hundred-and-fifty jatakas (the Buddha's birth stories) formed the bulk of the dramatic repertory. Other plays were drawn from old Burmese chronicles. The preoccupation was with reenactment of the past. The stage of that time certainly did not seek to mirror contemporary life.
The highest skill of the Burmese marionette art is in the manipulation of the marionette strings. In the heyday of the marionettes a single figure, such as the nat-worshiper, may have to be worked by no less than sixty separate strings. (I have heard of a puppet with a string for each eyebrow). As I have already mentioned, these figures are not mere toys or dolls. They represent human beings with all the wonders of human gesture and anatomy. They have no less a task than to accomplish all the movements of live actors-singing, dancing, speaking, and portraying emotions.
The measure of the puppeteer's achievement may be appreciated in the fact that marionettes long ago established the mode and the standards of the Burmese dance. Live actors and dancers studied and then modeled their gestures and dance movements on marionettes worked by famous manipulators and do today.
The following are a few conventions as to the props used in the Burmese marionette play. Sprigs of leaves stuck in a couple of bamboo holders represent trees in a forest or grove. One such tree between two adjacent scenes divides the stage into two kingdoms. Ignorance of the convention of marionette tree-planting would confuse the development of the theme of the play.
Then there are different conventions of the marionettes' exit. Although all figures come on the stage around the side of the back screen, some figures make their exit over the hand rail. This rail runs along the top of the back screen. The manipulators, visible to the audience, lean over it to work their marionettes. It is customary for monkeys to jump off the stage over the rail. Zawgyis (sorcerers) also disappear in the same manner. This shows their supernatural powers. They fly through the air.
After the days of the patronage of Burmese kings, this art gradually declined. The marionette professionals themselves misconstrued the traditions of their predecessors and, pandering to the fancies of modern audiences, introduced new figures and new scenes indiscriminately. Convention went overboard. Wild horses which should appear as they were at the beginning of the world were suddenly seen attended by immaculate grooms. The primeval forest, inaccessible to man, teemed with khaki-clad hunters popping their toy guns at amazed tigers, as well as jerseyed footballers and even European ladies complete with lap dogs on the lead.
The Burmese theory of the beginning of the universe was forgotten. The beauty and elegance of courtly Burma, the polished manners of the palace, and aristocratic language preserved in the court, these were cut or dropped out entirely. No longer did marionette ministers discuss the law and affairs of state, perhaps, because a modern audience could not follow- the subtleties and nuances of polite language.
This art of the Burmese marionette, dear to the Burmese wood-carver and embroiderer-this device of Minister U Thaw to develop the Burmese stage despite Burmese modesty-is unique among the fine arts of the world.
Book Title : WE THE BURMESE (Voices from Burma) Edited by Helen G.Trager