Saturday, October 01, 2005

The Passing of a Puppet Master

Some weeks ago I wrote about the Macbeth in the Shadows project: a collaboration between The British Council, Pusaka's Eddin khoo, British writer/illustrator Edward Carey and Tok Dalang Dollah Baju Merah. The play was supposed to have been staged at the same time as Theatre Babel's production of Macbeth.

Tragically, Pak Dollah passed away on 26th September. Kakiseni has the full story, and you can read an interview with the puppet-master here.

Malaysia has lost another irreplacable performer of traditional art forms: Pak Dollah's expertise died with him, for he had no apprentice to pass his skills on to.

(Picture from Malay Mail)

2 comments:

Kak Teh said...

How sad! Isnt there anyway, we can revive this interest? Get the children interested? I feel sad when treasures such as Pak Dollah goes and we are poorer for not keeping his art alive.

bibliobibuli said...

There doesn't seem much will to keep these things alive, Kak Teh. *sigh*