Polyglot runs masterclasses each year, designed for professional puppeteers and visual theatre artists. The workshops will be open to the industry and we aim to subsidise workshop fees for participants.

Chinese Museum presents:

The Magic of Marionettes:

The Quanzhou Marionette Troupe visit Melbourne

Drawing on two thousand years of marionette history, the renowned Quanzhou Marionette Troupe will travel to Melbourne to perform their magical theatre in late June and early July 2008.

During the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1279-1368) Dynasties, Quanzhou, in the south-eastern coastal province of Fujian, was one of the world's largest seaports. It was the maritime starting point for the Silk Road, linking close to one hundred countries and regions. Hosting a large foreign-born community from across Europe and Asia, it was also highly cosmopolitan and a destination for merchants, missionaries, and nobles from many countries. With increasing economic and cultural interaction, Quanzhou became a centre for East-West
cultural exchange.

Today, Quanzhou is not only known for having held centre stage in East-West commercial and cultural relations, but is also home to many internationally renowned artists and performing artists. A cultural treasure of China’s Fujian Province, and one of the best known professional artistic performing groups in China, the Quanzhou Marionette Troupe was established in 1952. Since then, they have performed all over China and in over 40 countries around the world.

Over many centuries, Chinese puppet theatre has formed into a highly developed expression of Chinese culture, combining the skills of an artisan and performer into folk art. The puppeteer has a special place among
Chinese performing artists. Delighting audiences with their life-like puppets, master puppeteers manipulate
single or groups of strings with their fingers. These expressive puppets portray men and women of all ages and professions, spirits and wild animals.

Puppeteers, who often begin training as children, may take five years to learn basic techniques, and over 20 years to completely master more than 30 strings of the more complex puppets. Animating the marionette’s body, enabling the character to express lifelike and vivid movements, the Quanzhou Marionette Troupe’s repertoire includes historic tales, children’s plays and modern stories. Eight of the Troupe will perform their
magical theatre for Melbourne audiences in late June and early July.

These amazing and skilful puppeteers are not to be missed!

The Quanzhou Marionette Troupe will perform at the Chinese Museum, 22 Cohen Place, Melbourne (behind Her Majesty's Theatre).

1/2 DAY PROFESSIONAL PUPPET WORKSHOPS

WORKSHOPS:
Date: Friday 27 June 2008
Times: Workshop 1: 9.00am to 12.00 noon
Guided tour of the Chinese Museum at 1.00pm Workshop 2: 2.00pm to 5.00pm

Workshop Content:
Historic background of marionette puppetry in China and the Quanzhou troupe, Design and building
of marionette puppets, Rule of the strings, The 4 types of characters - male (sheng), female (dan),
colourful faces (bei), and animals / other characters (zha), The development of the performance
structure, Demonstration of performance techniques
Location: Chinese Museum
22 Cohen Place Melbourne
(behind Her Majesty's Theatre)
Workshop Cost: $58.00 per 1/2 day workshop (includes tour of Museum)

PERFORMANCES:
Dates: Saturday 28 June to Thursday 4 July - Daily
Times: 11am, 1.30pm and 8pm:
Tickets: Children $12.00 (under 14 years), Adults $20.00
Optional buffet Chinese lunch or dinner at the Museum at 12.30pm and 7.00pm: $12.00

BOOKINGS FOR WORKSHOPS & PERFORMANCES:
Contact Ursula Kay on (03) 9662 2888.
www.chinesemuseum.com.au