Traditional marionette puppets that will travel to Dubai. Pic: Christopher Davy

LOCAL marionette gropu Htwe Oo Myanmar has been practicing harder than usual in recent weeks, in preparation for their upcoming appearance at the Dubai Summer Surprises 2008 festival.

The 65-day festival, which is the region’s largest summer event, started on June 19 and will run throughout the summer until August 22.

“This is a great event that visitors from all over the world can come and enjoy. So, this is the great chance for us,” said U Khin Maung Htwe, the owner of the Htwe Oo Myanmar Puppet Theater, which opened in November 2006.

Preparation for the festival has not been easy for the small but highly dedicated puppeteers. Shortly after accepting the invitation to perform at the summer festival, Cyclone Nargis struck, destroying the roof of the theatre. The puppets, kept at the FJV Commercial Centre on Strand Road, Yangon, were damaged by the storm.

“All the puppets got wet and destroyed and as we are leaving here on July 8 we don’t have much time left. So we’ve had to make quick preparations in a month to keep our promise [to the festival organisers],” said U Khin Maung Htwe.

“We have had to buy about eight new puppets and repair many of our old ones. Luckily, the puppeteers from my group are able to make and repair the puppets. And, of course, we have to practice very hard for the shows,” he said.
One of the greatest challenges of performing in a foreign country is the language barrier, says U Khin Maung Htwe.

“When we explain the history and the nature of the dances, we have to take a great deal of time to make the audiences understand. How can we do this in such a short time? We only have 90 minutes. So we plan to perform non-stop dances and we hope that we can make people understand through the dances,” he says.

During the troupe’s trip from July 10 — August 9, the five members, led by U Khin Maung Htwe, will perform 26 shows at eight venues in Dubai: Century Mall, Lamcy Plaza, Dubai Festival City, Al Ghurair, Burjuman, Mercato, Al Khaleej and Dubai Outlet Mall.

U Khin Maung Htwe is looking forward to showcasing Myanmar’s unique but dwindling culture of puppetry to a wider, global audience.

“I believe that people will notice our traditional marionettes more than in the past and the culture will reach a larger audience. And I also hope to learn more about the travel industry in Dubai during my trip.”

Ma Thandar Htay, one of four puppeteers and a graduate in puppetry from the University of Culture, told The Myanmar Times that she will perform to the best of her ability in the shows.

“Although we will go there as a private group, I will perform not only as a professional but also as a representative puppeteer of the country. I hope other people will be interested in our traditional puppetry and enjoy it,” she said.

“There will be also a lot of entertainers from all over the world, so we can learn from other cultures and their performing arts. I hope that the experience we have there will help us to have better ideas for our own puppet industry.”