Yeung Faï (China-France)

The tiger devours the affable monk, students clash in a dramatic spear and sword fight, plates twirl without ever smashing, couples fall in and out of love...

Yeung Fai, the last member of a puppeteer dynasty (5 generations and several centuries of practice), is unrelenting in the pursuit of his art and has become a celebrated and unchallenged master of Chinese glove puppets, a virtuoso able to express most accurately the state of mind, temper and feelings of the characters he manipulates.

In his luggage scattered on a makeshift stage, he carries along a legacy of puppets and an expertise that is both obsolete and unconventional. If the man seems lost in our contemporary world, the maestro is revealed when the suitcases open and spread their contents of improbable stories to the modern eye.

The Puppet-Show Man offers what history has bequeathed him: a striking lesson of humour and humanity.

^{"The exceptional virtuosity of the performer and the demonic precision of his gesture reaches its peak on the brilliant martial arts combats, increasing the expression strength of the puppets."
-Télérama}

BIO

Born in China in 1964, Yeung Fai represents the fifth generation of a great family of Chinese puppeteers. Puppetry is one of the most ancient traditional folk arts in China. Yeung Fai was trained from the early age of four by his father, a Chinese master puppeteer who was a victim of the Cultural Revolution. This left indelible marks on the son’s art, unrelentingly pursues it, now an unchallenged master of puppet manipulation and making.

Yeung Faï today lives in France and teaches regularly at École Nationale Supérieure des Arts de la Marionnette de Charleville-Mézières.

A passionate artist, he presents shows full of poetry, humour and beauty all over the world, sometimes with a political eye on his native China, with shows that surprise audiences of all ages.
In FIMFA Lx16 was presented a documentary about this creator and now this is a unique opportunity to see him perform live.

^CREDITS

^{Concept, puppeteer and puppets: Yeung Faï Direction: Eric Domenicone Puppet booth: Michel Klein Lighting design: Marc Laperrouze Production: Le Manège Maubeuge - Scène Nationale Coproduction: Perth International Arts Festival Photography: Kalimba M}