Promoting internationalization
Ruizendaal has already seen ten of his original works performed on stage, all of them by the Lin Liu-Hsin Puppet Theatre Museum's Taiyuan Puppet Theatre Company. Unlike most small non-commercial theater troupes in Taiwan, which tend to operate on the principle that good enough is good enough, Ruizendaal doesn't cut corners. He insists on hiring a professional musician to arrange original scores for each play, and when invited to perform overseas will have the soliloquies and dialogue translated and projected onto a screen so audiences can understand what's going on. He stresses that to promote Taiwanese puppet theater overseas, "packaging" and "professionalism" are extremely important.
"Packaging" means publicity. Some theater troupes in Taiwan put on high caliber performances but do a lackadaisical job of marketing and publicizing themselves. "Foreigners will come to see unfamiliar type of stage performance once just out of curiosity, but what then? You have to put out attractively designed publicity that communicates something to grab people's imaginations, otherwise you're not going to attract many back a second time."
"Professionalism" includes such things as musical arrangements, lighting, use of the stage, and pacing. At the temple fairs where puppet theater is often performed, the crowds are boisterous and the outdoor setting is spacious, so orchestras at these open air events play as loud as they can. But when performing overseas, and especially at cozily appointed little theaters, the wailing suona alone are enough to blow the audience's eardrums. For Taiwanese puppet theater to win fans overseas it is necessary to size up the venue, adjust the musical volume, make skillful use of lighting, shorten performances, and translate the soliloquies and dialogue.
Taiwanese glove puppetry
In addition to his efforts to spread puppet theater, Ruizendaal is also an ace exhibit curator with a number of credits to his name, including exhibits at the Westfries Museum in Hoorn, the Netherlands, the Kwang Hwa Information and Culture Center in Hong Kong, the Ilan International Children's Folklore and Folkgame Festival, and the TTT Puppet Theater.
Six years ago Ruizendaal organized the exhibition From Holland to Formosa--17th-Century Dutch Culture in Taiwan at Fort Santo Domingo in Tanshui, thus linking up his two "homelands."
"Taiwanese history unfolds on many different levels, but history viewed through a nationalistic prism can seem quite boring." The Fort Santo Domingo exhibit therefore emphasized hands-on interaction. Visitors were able to get a feel for the olden days by trying on wooden clogs from the Netherlands, watching stage performances, and romping around in the hold of a replica 17th-century ship.
For Ruizendaal, who was once married to a local and entertains a passion for all things Taiwanese, the verve and warmth of the Taiwanese people and the academic freedom enjoyed here are a continuous source of creative inspiration. As our interview draws to a close, he smokes a pipe and pores over the proposal for a work he's planning to have performed at the International Puppet Theater Festival this May in Istanbul. His devotion to puppet theater has enabled him to enrich and innovate Taiwanese puppet theater by infusing foreign cultural elements and contemporary methods. In the process, the works he has created have brought Taiwan to the attention of international audiences and given those audiences a window on Taiwan puppet theater.