One of the artistic features that characterizes Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company is its interpretation of historic stories through female perspectives, which is what the theatre company has done in The Soup of Reincarnation. The work reinvents classic characters in the tradition of puppetry and gives them new lives. The story begins with Meng Po, who resides by the river Lethe in the underworld. Through her eyes, the audience learn the stories of three classic female characters, Wang Bao-Chuan, Pan Jin-Lian, and Bai Su-Zhen, and witness how tears are turned into the symbol of oblivion and rebirth, as a way to recount these women’s emotional upheavals and discontent with fate. The monologues of the three female characters, along with the puppeteers’ expressions of their own feelings, are deconstructed and reconstructed into a story interwoven with both facts and fiction. The theatre company has specially invited the artistic director of Puppet and Its Double, Cheng Chia-Yin, to direct this production, the modern playwright and director, Chiang Fu-Chin, to write the script, the Singaporean theatre technology director, Helmi Fita, to design the lighting, and Liang Meng-Han to design the puppets. Combining puppetry narration, puppeteering and Beiguan music with modern features like wide cloak, mobile platform and theatrical lighting, the work unveils a new direction of contemporary puppetry.

Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company
Jin Kwei Lo Puppetry Company is a rare Taiwanese theatre company run by three generations of one family. Its founder, Chiang Szu-Mei, is the first female Taiwanese palmar puppeteer and is still creating works and performing at eighty-six years of age. Her son Ko Chia-Tsai, who inherits Chiang’s skills and is an important palmar puppeteer, has been writing, directing and performing palmar puppetry works for over five decades. The family’s third-generation, Ko Shih-Hung and Ko Shih-Hua, have learned and mastered the art of puppetry, and dedicated themselves to promote the beauty of Taiwanese puppetry by participating in domestic and foreign art festivals and puppetry programs, seeking new opportunities for Taiwanese puppetry through the encounters of the modern and the traditional from both the East and the West. In recent years, their experiments on interdisciplinary and cross-media performances have received much praise. Today, the three generations of the family are still endeavoring in promoting the local culture of puppetry and creating excellent works.

Drama Artist Consultant | Chiang Szu-mei
Drama Consultant | Ko Chia-Tsai
Director | Cheng Chia-Yin
Playwright | Ching Fu-Chin, Ko Shih-Hing
Lighting Design | Helmi Fita
Sound Design | Chiang Ching-Hsing
Aria Arrangement | Wu Ya-Ting
Production Carpenter | Cheng Sheng-Wen
Puppet Design | Liang Meng-Han, Ko Shih-Hung, Ko Shih-Hua
Performer | Ko Shih-Hung, Ko Shih-Hua, Liu Yu-Jane
Musician | Chiang Ching-Hsing, Wu Ya-Ting, Liu Chao-Hung
Stage Crew | Hsu Yu-Ling, Lia Wei-Yu
International Administration Coordination | Su Wei-Jeune
Marketing Materials Design | Ou Chia-Jui