Filipino puppetry artist who worked in West End brings craft home to Manila

MANILA, Philippines — Storytelling has always been magical, more so if it is done on stage—and with life-sized puppets to help bring stories to life.

Filipino puppet designer-maker and director Kayla Teodoro knows this only too well, as she is the creator of the life-sized Yubaba from the stage adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki’s film Spirited Away. She also brought to life, with the use of puppets, the story of Life of Pi in the stage adaptation by the National Theater of London.

"Life of Pi," the award-winning stage adaptation of Yann Martel’s best-selling novel, centers on a 16-year-old boy named Pi, who finds himself stranded on a lifeboat after a cargo ship sinks in the vast Pacific Ocean. Alongside Pi are four other survivors—a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a Royal Bengal tiger.

“I was fortunate enough to work on the show last year while it was on the West End. I took care of the puppets—the tiger and all of the other big puppets. I also worked very closely with the puppeteers because I also helped run the show," said Teodoro, who served as the puppet assistant stage manager for that particular stage production.

The bulk of her work entailed making sure that all big puppets were in tip-top shape for every show: “I helped make sure that puppets were in the right place at the right time. I made sure that when puppeteers needed help, I was there to help them. All of the puppets really had to be up to par every night before the show.”

Teodoro emphasized that the puppet community is generally small—all the more so in the Philippines, which is the lone Southeast Asian country without an ancient form of puppetry.

Artist Kayla Teodoro

“It’s really baby steps, but it’s exciting because it’s so small. Because of that, I formed Puppet Theater Manila, which is now trying to bring puppetry around the Philippines,” said Teodoro, who finished her master’s degree in puppetry in the United Kingdom.

Determined to propel Filipino storytelling through puppetry, she shares how the art form is a rich outlet for Filipino stories rooted in folklore, especially for the benefit of children.

“Before the Spanish arrived, we were a very pagan culture, and because of that, there is such rich folklore and origin stories to tell,” she said.

“Thanks to puppetry, you now have an option on how to tell these stories—you could show children what an aswang or even what a butanding looks like. And because the Philippines is so rich in indigenous materials and craftsmen, you can get everyone involved when it comes to telling stories through puppetry,” she said.

Between running Puppet Theater Manila and working as a freelancer on theater productions, Teodoro makes time to teach puppetry to kids of all ages. She also directs puppetry for the new Repertory Philippines musical. With humble beginnings as a set and costume designer, she has seen her journey in puppetry blossom into major projects like "My Neighbor Totoro," "Spirited Away," "Spitting Image," "The Lion King," and "Life of Pi."

"Life of Pi" was the first production lined up under the Cultural Center of the Philippines’ newly-minted program CCP National Theatre Live, which aims to provide the best of London National Theatre to the Philippines.

Artist Kayla Teodoro

“That’s the most important to us—to make sure that Filipino audiences are seeing the capabilities of puppetry, and not only that, you also have artists, theater professionals and film professionals who are now starting to embrace that,” said Teodoro.

Through the CCP National Theatre Live program, CCP aims to provide yet another exceptional “live” performance experience to expand the cultural palettes of its audiences, while making international theater accessible to theater enthusiasts, playwrights, artists, and the broader public.

The CCP, in partnership with the National Theatre of London and the Ayala Malls Cinema, brings the best of British theater to the big screen, featuring nine world-class stage plays, filmed live from the United Kingdom’s most exciting stages, until May 28, 2024, exclusively in Greenbelt cinemas.

Artist Kayla Teodoro

For the first season, the lineup features "Life of Pi," "Frankenstein," "The Seagull," "Much Ado About Nothing," "The Crucible," "Fleabag," "Othello," "King Lear," and "Hamlet," all digitally filmed in high-definition quality. NTL films their plays in front of live theater audiences but optimized for the big screen and made accessible to theater fans across the globe.

For more updates, follow the official CCP social media accounts in Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Visit the CCP website (www.culturalcenter.gov.ph).