In so doing, Ruizendaal, director of a leading Taiwanese puppet museum and its troupe of theatrical puppeteers, has created a repertoire that has caught the fancy of local and international audiences alike.

His multinational troupe features Taiwanese puppet master Chen Xi-huang, son of legendary puppeteer Li Tian-lu, Chen’s protege Massimo Godoli Peli of Italy and a crew of narrators, light and stage designers, and a puppet maker.

The team has travelled as far as Russia and Central America to stage Taiwanese puppet theater in some 30 countries and have collaborated with their peers in Asia and Europe.

“People are always surprised to see that the leader of a Taiwanese puppet troupe is a Westerner,” said Ruizendaal, who also serves as the lead script writer. “I think this shows that Taiwan is more internationalized and more open-minded towards outsiders.”

Ruizendaal came to the island some 15 years ago to help plan a puppetry festival after gaining his Ph.D. in Sinology on Chinese marionette theater from the University of Leiden in Holland.

As part of his studies he did research in China’s southeastern Fujian province where glove puppetry was popular in the 19th century. While there are no records to show just when glove puppetry originated, some scholars believe it dates back to the Sung dynasty (960-1279 AD) when various forms of puppetry were prevalent.

Also known as “budaixi,” it later spread to Taiwan as people migrated from mainland China, and was performed mainly at religious festivals.

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