Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Bringing Iron Rod Puppets to Life - Kim Giak Low Choon Teochew Puppet Opera

In Penang, the Kim Giak Low Choon Teochew Puppet Troupe (金玉楼春潮州木偶剧团) needs no introduction here in their hometown as they are one of the groups that are actively promoting and keeping the tradition of Teochew iron-rod puppet opera alive. Whilst they have performed in numerous shows organised by various government agencies and NGOs in the promotion of local intangible cultural heritage, I still enjoy their performances more when it is performed in a more traditional setting viz. in temple celebrations.

Kim Giak Low Choon Teochew puppet opera performance

Various Teochew puppet opera characters in action

Amazing miniature costume and headgear on teochew puppet opera


Such shows that usually performed in conjunction with a deity's birthday are called 酬神戏 (chóu shén xì) in Chinese and literally means Rewarding the Gods performance. There is this feel of the 'realness' in the show when they perform on the temple opera stage, with all the temple stuff around and not in a 'sanitised' set up. Plus if you block the intended audience of the show (the gods or spirits) when watching or shooting them, they would not be asking you to move aside, right?

Mdm. Toh Ai Hwa overseeing the preparation before the Teochew puppet opera show begins

Various characters comes to life during the teochew puppet opera show.

Two iron-rod puppet characters, one with a basket and the other carrying a baby.

Elvis Goh on the yangqin


I managed to catch Kim Giak Low Choon Teochew Puppet Troupe recently in such a setting during the Goddess of Mercy birthday celebration at Yuan Ying Gong (Hor Kai Kong) temple in Pulau Tikus, Penang. As always, their performances is joy to watch and shoot. The lack of audience during the performance there also meant that it was easy to maneuver around the front of the stage to capture the puppets and puppeteers in action.

The iron-rod puppets are capable of really graceful moves under the control of an expert puppeteer.

Iron-rod puppet with a baby.

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