Bunraku puppets performed by Thistle Theatre bring to life the classic Korean folk tale “The Tiger and the Dried Persimmon” for Lynnwood’s Wonderstage children’s series June 28.
A young tiger, who thinks he is the fiercest in all Korea, ventures down a mountainside in search of food. He comes to a farmhouse and overhears a mother trying to stop her daughter from crying. The mother tells the child she might wake a tiger, but the little girl keeps crying. Finally the mother hands her daughter a dried persimmon (kotgum) and the child stops crying. The silly tiger thinks the kotgum must be a very frightening creature if it stopped the child from crying. Afraid that the kotgum will find him, the Tiger hides in the barn … but a thief is already hiding there.
Thistle Theatre is the only performing arts organization in the Pacific Northwest that specializes in Bunraku puppets, an ancient Japanese style of puppetry. The puppeteers, dressed head-to-toe in black to suggest invisibility, operate all of the character’s limbs by hand from behind. Puppeteers perform the show directed by Jean Enticknap.
The free, one hour performance is part of the Wonderstage Performance Series for Kids and is suitable for 5-11 year olds and their families. In its 17th season, WonderStage summer performances present local and regional theater, music, and ethnic/cultural performers in the natural outdoor amphitheater setting in Lynndale Park.
In case of rain, the performance is moved indoors to Lynndale Elementary School Gym, 7200 191st St. SW, Lynnwood.
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