The Puppet Play is a cultural heritage of Penang. This miniature form of opera is often staged during the feast days of various Taoist deities as entertainment for the gods. This is mostly a Teochew form of performing art, though there are Hokkien puppet troupes as well.
In the Teochew Puppet Plays, the wooden puppets are controlled using rods attached to their limbs. These puppets wear opera-style costumes. As far as I know, there is now only one of two Teochew Puppeteer troupes left in Penang, and they are usually engaged by temples for feast day celebrations.
In 2006, the Penang Heritage Trust recognized Madam Ooi Sew Kim as a living heritage of Penang for being the owner of a Hokkien Puppet Troupe.
One of the instances when I got to view a puppet play was at the Ngor Teik Keong Temple in Tanjong Tokong. It was having a feast day, and the Penang Heritage Trust organised a Site Visit to coincide with the celebration.
Puppet play at Ngor Teik Keong Temple (27 November 2005)
Teochew puppet (27 November 2005)
Puppet show (27 November 2005)
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About this website
Dear visitor, thank you so much for reading this page. My name is Timothy Tye and my hobby is to find out about places, write about them and share the information with you on this website. I have been writing this site since 5 January 2003. Originally (from 2003 until 2009, the site was called AsiaExplorers. I changed the name to Penang Travel Tips in 2009, even though I describe more than just Penang but everywhere I go (I often need to tell people that "Penang Travel Tips" is not just information about Penang, but information written in Penang), especially places in Malaysia and Singapore, and in all the years since 2003, I have described over 20,000 places.
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