No Strings Attached at 10: Singapore’s puppet festival goes beyond borders
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Paper Monkey Theatre artistic director Benjamin Ho with his Journey To The West puppets at the puppetry studio in Goodman Arts Centre on Oct 8.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
- Singapore’s No Strings Attached festival marks 10 years with puppetry from Taiwan, South Korea, Iran, Indonesia and Thailand, plus Singapore’s first shadow puppetry slam.
- Founder Benjamin Ho started it in 2016 to make puppetry cheaper and more open, and to show children and families forms beyond Sesame Street or a sock puppet.
- The festival grows with sponsors and a move next year to the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, but Ho worries about losing The Artground’s small, family-friendly space.
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SINGAPORE – Try your hand at shadow puppetry at the No Strings Attached International Puppetry Festival, on at The Artground, Goodman Arts Centre (GAC), from Nov 13 to 15.
Anyone can step up to tell stories in what is billed as Singapore’s first shadow puppetry slam.
Benjamin Ho, founder of the festival and artistic director of Paper Monkey Theatre, says the mood is meant to be informal and improvisational. “It’s not like a performance in a theatre. No rehearsals. It’s like a jam, where people try out ideas. It’s an invitation to chill and be silly.”
Besides the slam, there will be puppet shows from companies hailing from Taiwan, South Korea, Iran, Indonesia and Thailand.
Taiwanese headliner Jin Kwei Lo Puppet Company will present the Singapore premiere of its potehi (traditional Hokkien glove puppet) show The Soup Of Reincarnation.
Taiwan’s Jin Kwei Lo Puppet Company will present the Singapore premiere of the Hokkien-language The Soup Of Reincarnation.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF PAPER MONKEY THEATRE
The Hokkien-language show won for best performance at the 29th Taiwan Traditional Arts Golden Melody Awards and plays three nights at GAC’s Black Box Theatre. “Bringing The Soup Of Reincarnation to Singapore is a dream come true,” says Ho.
The play follows Meng Po, the underworld keeper of the River of Oblivion, as she recalls three Chinese folk heroines (Wang Bao-chuan, Madam White Snake and Pan Jin-lian) in a contemporary, female-led take.
Ho says: “It beautifully demonstrates how traditional puppetry continues to evolve while remaining deeply rooted in Chinese culture.”
The festival has come a long way since its first edition in 2016, when it was staged with just a few thousand dollars. Ho jokes: “I started this festival for selfish reasons. Travelling to overseas puppet festivals was getting expensive.”
He invited puppeteer friends and paid their hotel fees in exchange for their performances. “It allowed us to keep ticket prices as cheap as possible. And it gave children who couldn’t go overseas during the November school holidays a chance to come and watch a puppetry show.”
He also wanted to expand public understanding of what puppetry can be. “My goal is to introduce Singaporeans to puppetry beyond Sesame Street or a sock on a hand,” he says. “There are so many fun, interesting forms of puppetry, and I want people to look beyond what’s on TV.”
The 2026 theme, Beyond Borders And Strings, plays on the Chinese term “wu xian” (“no string”), which sounds like the term for “boundless”. This edition, with a five-figure budget, is the biggest one yet, and presents puppetry in a range of styles.
Beside You, a solo puppet show by South Korea’s Odongnamoo Happening, will include music provided by the gayageum, a traditional zither.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF PAPER MONKEY THEATRE
Indonesia's Animawayang Community blends traditional Javanese shadow puppetry, or wayang kulit, with film to tell an eco-fable about forest animals who revolt against loggers.
Beside You, by South Korean company Odongnamoo Happening, is a solo show with music provided by the gayageum, a traditional zither.
Iran’s Hojjat Zeinali will animate characters live, using a projector on a desk in front of the audience.
From Thailand, Pineapple Studio’s Jack The Salesman adapts a classic Indian folktale about a cap seller and mischievous monkeys into a shadow puppetry performance.
There is also a fringe programme that includes workshops and a market where visiting puppeteers and local vendors sell handmade puppets and other merchandise.
Ashiq Wants To Tell You A Story by Hojjat Zeinali from Iran uses live digital cut-out animation.
PHOTO: COURTESY OF PAPER MONKEY THEATRE
Ho is an alumnus of The Finger Players, and left to focus on work for children. “Children have a sense of curiosity. They have a willingness to throw themselves into the make-believe world of the puppets,” he says.
He founded Paper Monkey Theatre in 2008, and it has performed at international festivals, including Thailand’s Phetchaburi Harmony Puppet Festival and Malaysia’s George Town Festival.
As the company toured, Ho expanded his vision to include building friendships and networks with puppeteers across countries.
“Over time, these festivals became like a family gathering for puppeteers,” he says. “Every time we met, we’d sit outside at the end of the day, drinking and talking until the wee hours about puppetry, funding and ways to support one another.”
The 10th edition marks another milestone as its regular venue The Artground is closing its GAC premises and moving to Holland Village.
Ho will miss the venue. “It’s a small, intimate space that holds around 100 people, so everything stays close by. Families can watch a show, exit to attend a workshop or play outside, and then watch another show. It’s a safe set-up where parents don’t have to worry about children running off.”
A rock puppet at Paper Monkey Theatre’s puppetry studio in Goodman Arts Centre on Oct 8.
ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM
The festival will move to the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre, which has pledged three years of venue sponsorship, in 2027.
“Puppetry doesn’t have limits,” Ho says, evoking the festival’s theme once again. “I always believe the only thing that restricts us is our imagination.”
Book It/No Strings Attached International Puppetry Festival by Paper Monkey Theatre
Where: The Artground, 01-05 Block B, Goodman Arts Centre, 90 Goodman Road
When: Nov 13 to 15
Admission: The Soup Of Reincarnation (Black Box Theatre): $45 for a ticket and $85 a pair; other shows (White Box @ The Artground): $20 a ticket, $35 a session pass (two shows) and $60 a day pass (four shows)
Info: For tickets and fringe registration, go to str.sg/9mX4