Vengeful Marionettes and Strategies of Reform: A Quanzhou Marionette Production of the Orphan Of Zhao

Abstract

In 2012, the Quanzhou Marionette Company premiered their production of The Orphan of Zhao. It went on to feature in prominent festivals, including the World Minnan Cultural Festival in June 2013 and the 10th China Arts Festival in Shandong in October of the same year, where it was the only puppet performance. These successes culminated in a prestigious Wenhua Prize—the third time the troupe had won it with a new production. Nevertheless, the choice of this material for a marionette play is for a number of reasons a novel decision: though The Orphan of Zhao and the Quanzhou marionette tradition share a considerable antiquity, this is not the sort of text generally associated with either the marionette genre or the region. The choice of such a plot, drawn from the national literary canon and grave in subject matter, for production by Quanzhou marionettes, instantiates a recent general tendency in the official practice of traditional Chinese theatre, including puppet troupes, towards grand narratives, told at a single sitting, and intended for prize competition and festivals.