ABSTRACT
China in the Asian Context For scholars of the traditional theatre forms of East and South-East Asia, the transition and interaction from storytelling to puppet theatre and on to the theatre by human actors are well-known phenomena. The Joruri storyteller of Japan keeps sitting besides the bunraku puppet stage and is the only one to open his mouth during the performance. That kabuki has developed out of bunraku is understood and in some plays the Joruri is even sitting at the side of the stage. The Dalang of the Indonesian wayang kulit shadow play handles the figures and tells the story like a storyteller having a large orchestra sitting behind him. The human theatre of wayang orang imitates the shadow plays . In the Tholu Bommalattam of Tamil Nadu, in South-East India, one man performs the music, the figures and the whole story.
