Photo Source: Mario Del Curto
Presented in the cramped Clark Studio Theater, exquisitely lit by Christophe Kehrli, the intimate show illustrates the Faï's story. A fifth-generation puppeteer whose father was a victim of China's Cultural Revolution, Faï struggles with how to preserve, evolve, and hand down the practice of Chinese glove puppetry, one of the country's oldest traditional folk-art forms.
The highlights of the 70-minute evening are two demonstrations of the traditional puppet work, of which Faï is an undeniable master. Drawn from the characters, stories, and performance style of Peking Opera, Faï's hand-size puppets are stunningly detailed and elaborately costumed. With one puppet character on each hand, Faï performs a hilarious courting scene and later a sidesplitting two-man fight. Both sequences are driven by abundant slapstick maneuvers and an amazing level of kinesthetic communication. It is mind-boggling how, with just his fingers (and sometimes the use of a rod), Faï is able to portray the specific muscular tensions, energies, and dynamics of his puppet characters' body actions so clearly and powerfully on such a small scale.
Introducing his overarching theme concerning the teaching of the art form, Faï opens the show with a hand-stretching exercise that reveals the almost contortionistic flexibility of his fingers. He closes with a third puppet sequence, but this time the stage is rotated so that we watch the proceedings from "backstage." While a video projected overhead shows us the "audience" view, we simultaneously watch Faï coaching his assistant, who learns the art by working as an apprentice alongside the master.
This fascinating demonstration is a blatant representation of how Faï is passing on his craft to others and how he was taught by his father (whose performances we see earlier in archival footage). Unfortunately, the show's other attempts at symbolic storytelling are less successful. The puppets representing Faï's family members are quite handsome, and the golden snakelike dragon puppet symbolizing the destructiveness of the Cultural Revolution is stunning. Yet even though Colin Offord's evocative score conjures exciting drama, Faï's attempts to convey the events of his personal life in lengthy, static scenes fraught with heavy-handed symbolism fall flat. His show is stolen by the amusing agility and kinetic charms of his puppets.
Presented by Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne as part of the Lincoln Center Festival at the Clark Studio Theater, 165 W. 65th St., NYC. July 18–25. Tue. and Wed., Fri.–Sun., 6 and 9 p.m. (212) 721-6500 or www.lincolncenterfestival.org.
