Puppet Origin Stories looks back with anger, love, grief

Audiences have faithfully trudged up the hill to One-Two-Six Cairnhill Road for four editions of The Finger Players' (TFP) Puppet Origin Stories. This will be the last staging of the series, and it is a pity.

- Ong Sor Fern Arts Editor

Cat And The Faceless Maiden is one of a trio of stories in the latest staging of Puppet Origin Stories. PHOTO: POH YU KHING

(POH YU KHING)

The indie production, lovingly produced on a budget within the tight confines of Cairnhill Arts Centre, has been a surprisingly fruitful incubator of unexpected partnerships and stories.

With every edition since its conception by former TFP co-artistic directors and now core team members Myra Loke and Ellison Tan Yuyang, the series has expanded the possibilities of puppetry with story triptychs that venture into every topic, from parental estrangement and LGBTQ issues to fashion standards and motherhood.

The latest edition boasts the most coherent triple bill to date, thanks to the guest artists and the venue serving as the common thread tying all the stories together. TFP has invited two arts groups which were the first to occupy the premises to produce pieces for this show.

The Necessary Stage's (TNS) Haresh Sharma has written a snarky playlet, A Necessary String, predicated on a pair of puppets that have set up a puppets-only company.

The story references TNS' history as a theatre group championing marginal voices, as well as a darker period of Singapore's theatre history when theatre practitioners were detained without trial.