ABSTRACT
Yokethay, or string puppets, are one of the oldest and most traditional art forms in the country of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma. Historically, like in many other Southeast Asian countries, puppetry was a primarily male art form. Men made the puppets, manipulated them, played the music, and performed the singing and dialogue. This chapter draws on the recent publication of a book, edited by Arya Madhaven, which challenges feminist theatre scholars to rethink approaches to women and performance in order to account for a specifically Asian context. Using her concepts of erasure, intervention, and reconstruction this chapter examines how women puppeteers might be understood within the social context of Myanmar and the history of yokethay in order to offer a deeper perspective on the role of gender within traditional puppet performance in Asia.
