A UNIQUE STORY TELLER

There are many ways to tell a story...

A simple way to tell a tale is one to one, face to face. Or we can add a little "drama" to it by telling stories (especially scary ghost stories) in a dark room in one of those rented "haunted" bungalows either by the beach or up Penang Hill during our vacation.

But last weekend I encountered a very unique story-teller from Beijing who was part of a Chinese Cultural team who set up shop at the Queenbay concourse area.

This one-man show comes complete with very interesting props. The main prop consists of a half hexagon-shaped timber cabinet with 3 stools facing 3 small peep holes. The audience is supposed to sit on the stools and peep into these peep holes to view a series of backdrops as the story unfolds. These backdrops can be changed by a simple pull- string mechanism operated by the one man story-teller himself.

Hanging on the side of this cabinet are cymbals, drums etc as part of the music and sound effects to accompany the story telling process.

So...how does he proceed to tell his story? Once the 3 patrons are settled comfortably in front of the peep windows, our friend here will start to don his chinese skull cap and start by playing the cymbals and drums (by pull string mechanism also) and begins his story!

The best part is that he will tell his story ( the well-known "Journey to the West") not only through singing and music.. but with his whole body.. through facial expressions, laughing, crying and kung fu moves etc...and at the same time, handling the backdrop changes and playing the musical instruments as the story moves along. That's is what I call multi-tasking in it's purest form!!

Mind you, this story teller is a oldster who will put many youngsters to shame with his agility and energy!

Being a self-acclaimed "drama critic", I gave this old man top marks for his superb performance....even though I could not understand a word of his heavy accented Beijing Mandarin!!! To me, he is a story- teller par excellence!

After his 15 minutes or so performance, I had a chance to interview him on his art form. He told me that this traditional way of telling stories went back in time in China where such performances were the only entertainment for the poor rural folks who can only afford a few cents for leisure after a hard day's work on the farms.

All his props are original versions and the backdrops used in the little cabinet are hand-drawn. Apparently, the Chinese government is trying to preserve this art form as part of their rich culture.

Personally, I would prefer this kind of performances than the pirated DVD version of some Hollywood movies! Move away Steven Spielberg....here comes "Beijingwood"!!