Yoke thé is the Burmese name for marionette

Marionette

A marionette is a puppet controlled from above using wires or strings depending on regional variations. A marionette's puppeteer is called a manipulator. Marionettes are operated with the puppeteer hidden or revealed to an audience by using a vertical or horizontal control bar in different forms...

 puppetry. Although the term can be used for marionettery in general, its usage usually refers to the local form of string puppetry. Like most of Burmese refined art, Yoke thé performances originated from Royal patronage and were gradually adapted for the wider populace. Yoke thé are almost always performed in operas.

Burmese marionettes are very intricate and dexterous as they employ 18 (for male characters) or 19 (for female) wires, each puppet controlled only by one puppeteer.

History

The probable origin of Burmese marionettes is given as around 1780 during the reign of Singu Min

Singu Min

Singu Min was the fourth king of the Konbaung dynasty of Myanmar. The king, who came to power amid controversy, largely put an end to his father Hsinbyushin's policy of territorial expansion, which had severely depleted the kingdom's manpower and resources. He stopped his father's latest war...

 and is credited to the Minister of Royal Entertainment, U Thaw. From its inception, marionettes grew in popularity in the courts of the Konbaung dynasty. Little has changed since its creation by U Thaw, and the same set of characters developed by him have been in use til today. Till the conquest of Upper Burma

Upper Burma

Upper Burma refers to a geographic region of Burma , traditionally encompassing Mandalay and its periphery , or more broadly speaking, Kachin and Shan States....

 by the British in late 1885, Yoke thé troupes enjoyed royal patronage and thrived due to the financial support.

List of Characters

A Burmese marionette troupe must have 27 character figures.

Nat votaress (Nat Kadaw) - two figures Horse (Myin) - one figure Elephant (Hsin) - two figures (one white, one black) Tiger (Kyar) - one figure Monkey (Myauk) - one figure Parrot (Thalika) - two figures Alchemist (Zawgyi) - one figure Minister (Wungyi) - four figures King (Mintayar gyi) - one figure Prince (Minthar) - one figure Princess (Minthamee) - one figure Prince Regent (Uparaja or Ain-shei-Minthar) - two figures (one white-faced, one red-faced) Pundit astrologer (Ponenar) - one figure Hermit (Yathei) - one figure Nat (Nat) - one figure Deva (Maha Deiwa) - one figure Old man (Apho-O) - one figure Old woman (Aphwa-O) - one figure Buffoon (Lu phyet) - two figures

Music

A hsaing waing

Hsaing waing

The hsaing waing is a traditional Burmese folk musical ensemble, consisting of a number of different gongs and drums, as well as other instruments, depending on the nature of the performance...

, a traditional Burmese orchestra usually provides the music. The puppeteers themselves usually provide the voice of the characters.

Political Role

The Burmese court was concerned with preserving the dignity of its members and marionettes were often used to preserve the esteem of a person who had erred. The king could reprimand his children or his wife in this way by asking the puppeteers to put on a parable correcting errant children or careless wives about their reckless ways. While the reprimand would be obvious to anyone who was "in the know" it would largely pass unheeded by the people looking on, something that had a great deal of value in a court that could, and did contain hundreds of people.

The Burmese marionettes also served as a conduit between the ruler and his subjects. Many times, people would ask the puppeteers to mention in a veiled fashion a current event or warning to the ruler. Thus, information or popular discontent could be transferred on without any disrespect, as marionettes could say things that a human could be punished for with death.

Decline

Yoke thé troupes, like most artisans in pre-colonial Burma alongside the Sangha enjoyed great royal patronage. However, like most forms of traditional art work, the support dried up upon the colonisation of Upper Burma by the British in November 1885 following the Third Anglo-Burmese War

Third Anglo-Burmese War

The Third Anglo-Burmese War was a conflict that took place during 7–29 November 1885, with sporadic resistance and insurgency continuing into 1887. It was the final of three wars fought in the 19th century between the Burmese and the British...

.

Revival

In the late 1990s, General Khin Nyunt

Khin Nyunt

General Khin Nyunt is an officer and politician in Myanmar. Khin Nyunt is of Burmese Chinese descent. He held the office of Chief of Intelligence and was Prime Minister from 25 August 2003 until 18 October 2004. He is married to Khin Win Shwe, a medical doctor, and father to a daughter, Thin Le Le...

of the ruling junta lent official support to the Marionette actors and troupes, reviving a rapidly dying tradition. Nowadays, marionettes are very common in tourist attractions and also amongst the populace, as they resume their role of relatively safer political satire and popular discontent.

A new genre of Yoke thé is emerging where a yoke thé character and a real life actor perform the same feat, usually with the yoke thé puppets able to mimic and sometimes out perform their human counterparts.

Reference

Htin Aung, Maung; Folk Elements in Burmese Buddhism. London, New York; Oxford University Press, 1962.
Khin Zaw, U; Burmese Culture: General and Particular. Yangon; Sarpay Beikman Corporation Press, 1981.