As the most frequently-performed folk tales on stage shows, the poignant and romantic love story of The Legend of the White Snake was reinterpreted by the Taipei Puppet Theater with traditional, “jin-guang” (golden light), and television glove puppetry to creative a new imaginative realm of puppetry.

The Legend of the White Snake is a folk tale from the Shao-Shing period of the Song Dynasty. It is about a young woman, Bai Su-chen, who is the human form of a white snake spirit, who marries Hsu Hsien in gratitude that Hsu Hsien saved her life in her previous incarnation. However, a series of events ensue after Hsu Hsien happens to meet a Buddhist monk called Fa-Hai, which eventually leads to an intense match of magic powers between Bai Su-chen and Fa-Hai.

In terms of performance style, the show incorporates the arts and styles of a number of brilliant young performers from the north to the south to give rise to an unprecedented production method in Taiwan. As a fusion of the exquisite traditional glove puppetry, extravagant jin-guang glove puppetry, and flamboyant television puppet shows, etc., the show is a delicate and luxuriant reproduction of the mythical world of The Legend of the White Snake. Modified tunes from Taiwanese Operas are incorporated into the background music. Other than eliciting the audience’s emotional resonance and neutralizing the masculinity of glove puppetry, the emotion-stirring melodic tunes of Taiwanese Operas also bring the quintessence and performance styles of traditional arts to audiences from multifaceted angles.