| Q1：Why are you so interested in the “Story Telling Theater”? |
A1：Story Telling Theater is a very free form or making theater, we as story tellers can break all the rules of telling a story, we don’t need actors for every role, we can play multiple, or change roles during the show, make jumps in the story, explain some facts to the audience, we hope this will also help the audience to follow the story. The feeling that it’s happening right know in front of you, with the feeling today things are going a little different then the day before...
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Q2：How do you get new ideas about “Story Telling Theater”?
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A2：That’s for every show different, in the case of ‘Maarten Mus’ we first started exploring the possibilities of the chosen medium. What can we do with projectors, and what’s new? So we tried not to make shadow theater because that’s a very traditional skill, so other people practiced this a lot and are better, but try to find your own style. We quickly decide to: show how we made everything, so we’re using first drafts as final ones. Use simple solutions so the audience can see how it’s done, hopefully also to inspire to try it for yourself.
Other factor is: trying and testing it for children, what’s funny and beautiful for adults is not necessary good for children, kids are easily bored or don’t care if something is ‘beautiful’ they understand the picture or not and then quickly move on. So you have to come with something new after couple of minutes or else the kids will get bored.
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Q3：What skills can make the “Story Telling Theater” successful?
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A3：Have fun doing it is the most important. Also, ability to shift gears quickly, play different characters quickly. And act believable, the audience should believe the things you are saying.
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Q4：In Taiwan, is there anything different from what you expected?
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A4：I thought children would maybe react more different, but it seems that we’re not so different from each other. Children more or less react on the same things, laugh about the same jokes. Good thing to discover.
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Q5：When you teach the story telling theater workshop, how different is Taiwan from other Asian countries you have visited? |
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A5：I haven’t traveled a lot in other Asian countries. Taiwan people are very open, happy and friendly. And that’s very special. People are hard-working and very positive. Also the children are open to strange foreign people, for example in South Africa where we also worked, the people are more reserved. They quickly see us as somebody from a rich country, maybe they can give me money / job or something else. Here people seems to be more open to you, share food, time and good stories. Also the children are different, they want to play, talk, test their English skills or give small things. Also Taiwan people are proud of their culture and country, sometimes this is different in other countries.
Q6：What do you learn from the “Story Telling Theater”?
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A6：Making contact with people, you can tell your story like you prepared, or willing to create something new, and sharing the story with your audience, there is a difference. The second one requires more contact, as an actor you have to open up and check where your audience is. If they are still following what you are telling them, it requires a high level of concentration, so I learn to forget my daily worries and get together with the audience inside of the story. |
Q7：What is the next city or country you are planning to visit? |
A7：We hope to go Johannesburg, South Africa in September 2013, also we’re planning to come back in 2013 to Taiwan for extra shows, because a lot of people were asking to play more. First in the Netherlands we have to play other shows, first stop is in Belgium where we are going to play a new show. |
