Top 5 puppets from The Finger Players

SINGAPORE — Big ones, small ones, ones made of everyday objects, exquisitely crafted ones — The Finger Players have showcased all kinds of puppets (and puppetry techniques) for their productions. We asked company director and playwright Chong Tze Chien for his picks.

1. THE MANDARINS IN FURTHEST NORTH, DEEPEST SOUTH (2004). These are the court ministers in the story of the Eunuch Admiral and they’re modeled after their puppeteer counterparts, blurring the line between puppeteer and puppets, creating a formidable Greek chorus.

2. THE CATS IN CAT, LOST AND FOUND (2009). The titular puppet/character is manifested via an explosion of different forms and styles (after it “dies” and returns as a demon), drawing influences from both Eastern and Western puppetry conventions and mask work to boot.

3. THE CHALK WORK IN THE BOOK OF LIVING AND DYING (2012). It’s not puppetry per se but the chalk work on the blackboard set conjures universes and continents with versatility and ease. The device draws its principals from puppetry, an art form that brings to life the inanimate, evoking imagination via the puppeteers’ manipulation

4. THE PUPPPETS IN TWISTED (2005). We witness the entire lifespan of a puppet from young to old, with five versions of the same character at different ages. These are some of the most intricately crafted and designed puppets in the company’s repertoire.

5. THE POLICEMAN IN BETWEEN THE DEVIL AND THE DEEP BLUE SEA (2005). With his skeletal frame, it’s an eerie figure who looms in the background in a story about HDB dwellers. In the final denouement he reveals himself as the devil haunting the lives of the inhabitants, with detachable limbs and flying through walls, scaring the living daylights out of those he encounters.