GreenBkk Scoop | Pulling the Strings

Pulling the Strings

Vilawan Svetsreni hopes her passion for Lanna puppetry will help keep this Thai tradition alive

The main drive behind Assist Prof Vilawan Svetsreni's desire to visit unfamiliar lands, learn more about diverse cultures and meet countless new friends is none other but some Lanna puppets that have been an integral part of her life for more than a decade.

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"Thanks to them, I got to see the outside world and got to know like-minded people who have a strong passion for puppetry like I do. What I have learned is inestimable and noteworthy," beamed Ajarn Vilawan, a lecturer at Chiang Mai University's Faculty of Fine Arts, Thai Art Department and also a director of the Centre for the Promotion of Arts and Culture at Chiang Mai University.

According to Ajarn Vilawan, puppeteers by nature are real travellers. They have to visit many places to perform their shows and there are many places around the world where puppet lovers can gather and enjoy their interest.

"We share the same interest so when we meet, we talk about puppets. We are more than happy to share what we know. We establish strong bonds among ourselves," she said.

To some, the name Ajarn Vilawan may not ring any bells. But to many puppet enthusiasts, she is a puppet master who has played a crucial role in keeping northern Thai puppetry alive.

Her Hobby Hut Puppet Troupe has brought entertainment and artistry to countless people, whether young or old, Thai or foreign.

Recently, her troupe won three prestigious awards including a Silver Medal Award for Performance for the Golden Conch (Suwanna Hoi Sang) Performance, Excellence in Puppet Design, and Excellence in Fine Arts Decoration at the 2nd International Marionette Festival held in Hanoi to celebrate the 1,000th anniversary of Vietnam's capital.

"All the awards we received are not mine. They belong to all performers and those involved in the performance processes. To me, the awards inspire me to produce better work," she said.

Assist Prof Vilawan Svetsreni designs Lanna puppets and now her Hobby Hut Puppet Troupe is on a noble mission to bring smiles and happiness to many people.

Vilawan was fascinated by puppets when she was young. Her mother always took her to various Thai traditional shows including masked performances, stage plays and puppet shows.

My first show, My first experience

After gaining a place in Thammasat University's Faculty of Liberal Arts, Ajarn Vilawan had the chance to learn more about puppets from two experienced people, Dr Mattanee Rattanin and Kru Chuen Chusri Sakulkaew.

"Some of my friends were good performers. They could manipulate the puppets gracefully and adeptly. I found the art of puppetry was rather difficult. But I still became very interested in this kind of performance," she said.

In 1992, she and some of her friends were asked to perform a puppet show in England.

"It really was a great experience. Our performance was also broadcast on the BBC," she said.

My puppet challenge

After graduating from Thammasat University, Ajarn Vilawan decided to become a lecturer at Chiang Mai University's Faculty of Fine Arts in 1991. In 1993, she was responsible for writing a new curriculum on Thai art. Ajarn Vilawan, along with her friend Passakorn Induman, came up with an idea to start a course on Asian puppets, which lead to the birth of the Art of Asian Puppetry Course.

The first year, eight students took this course and they all produced wonderful work after being assigned to create a collection of Lanna puppets.

Lanna puppets feature many northern characters and all of them were designed by Vilawan’s students.

"Students get bored learning only theories. I wanted them to find the course enjoyable too. So I asked them to design their own puppets to be used for performances. The eight students had different skills and they blended them together to create a beautiful set of puppets," she said.

Though Ajarn Vilawan doesn't design puppets herself, she acts like a creator in terms of her ideas. One student, Apiwat Tanyanondh, was like an assistant who helped transform her abstract ideas into tangible ones.

My puppet collection

So far, Ajarn Vilawan has about 60 puppets of her own, not including the many more puppets designed by her students which are now under her care, since she is afraid that they might be ruined if they are not properly tended.

"They are all well looked after. I asked all the students who designed them that I wanted to take care of the puppets personally. In my spare time, I clean, maintain and repair them," said the puppet expert.

Ajarn Vilawan feels very attached to her puppets, especially one puppet of an old lady.

"I think I'm much like this old lady. Compared to other puppets in the collection, she is of the same generation as me. All my puppets have been put on show more than 1,000 times. I feel grateful to all of them," she said.

According to Vilawan, apart from puppetry skills, all puppeteers must have a passion for what they do. They must also be blessed with great patience.

"When we love what we do, we do it wholeheartedly. The results are always impressive and impeccable. Nothing seems difficult for us," she said.

The stories they present to audiences are many and they include folklore and popular tales. Very often, old beliefs are interwoven in the stories to make them more applicable to real life. In the near future, Vilawan plans to stage a new performance focusing on Phra Mae Posop (Goddess of Rice).

My great companions

For some time now, Ajarn Vilawan and her students have been performing puppet shows around the world. The Hobby Hut Puppet Troupe has visited many countries including France, Britain, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Spain, Portugal, and Vietnam.

"I once was granted a Unesco scholarship to be a resident artist at the Institute de la Marionette in France, which is a major centre of international puppetry. So I and the troupe were able to broaden our knowledge in the art of puppetry with other puppeteers. In some countries, we also organised workshops, giving lectures on Lanna puppets and teaching children how to move them. Those days were full of happiness and joy," she said.

What impressed her most was that in many of the countries she visited the younger generations are encouraged to love puppets which is not really the case in Thailand.

"In many countries, all kids are invited to participate in puppet festivals held regularly in many towns. Once I had the chance to visit Tolosa in Spain. The whole town was full of puppets and children. Children are always the main target since they will be the ones who will preserve their local traditions," she explained.

In these countries the puppet shows are organised regularly to allow children to participate. But in Thailand we focus only on grandiose shows. On top of that, in Spain, Japan, France, and many other countries there are puppet museums where children can touch and play with the puppets.

"But we have none in Thailand. What we see in the National Museum can't be touched and even photos can't be taken," she said disappointedly.

Each nation has its own distinct puppets that radiate their own art and culture, said Ajarn Vilawan. The puppets that captivate her most come from Vietnam, Japan and France.

Children overseas are encouraged to love puppets.

However, the most magnificent and elaborate ones are Thai puppets.

"I can say that Thai puppets vividly feature superb fine art and reflect the artists' meticulousness. Besides, the movements of the puppeteers are also very graceful. They can bring a lifeless puppet to life by passing their inner feeling down through their hands and into the puppets. And when it comes to costumes, materials used to decorate the puppet and the art of painting, Thai puppets are second to none," she said.

At the end of each trip, Vilawan always takes tips that she has learned and tries to apply them to her work.

"French puppeteers use old material to design their puppets. Indonesian puppets have lovely characters. And Japanese puppets can be easily manipulated by hand. I applied some of these ideas for my puppets and make them more compatible with our local puppets. It is great fun," she said.

My noble mission

According to Ajarn Vilawan, many of today's younger generation show no interest in preserving regional art and culture, including the art of puppetry, because they are captivated by modern culture, whether it be art and music, and want to learn something that yields quick results rather than doing something that requires patience.

"Like other traditions, Lanna puppetry risks being lost if no one sees value in it. I'm not sure whether we can pin our hopes on the new generation. What I have seen is that many students are happy to copy information from the internet, give it to their professors and then get the grades. It seems that they don't want to invest much time and learn things," she explained.

However, Ajarn Vilawan is trying to preserve puppetry by handing down to her students what she has learned, and many of her former students are now passing down what they have learned from Vilawan to their young students.

"Some of my students are now teachers and they also try to teach their students about the art of puppetry. I do believe students will find puppetry more enjoyable if they try and create puppets themselves," she said.

Ajarn Vilawan, says she plans to write a book on Lanna puppets in an effort to keep regional marionettes alive in written and pictorial form. She would also like to see a puppet museum established in Thailand.

"I really want to open a puppet museum, but an interactive one in which children can touch and play with the puppets, not marching through simply looking left and right and then leaving," she said.