The puppet theatre (pò˙ –tē–hì) is one of traditional cultural arts. After the World War II, a few of the glove puppet troupes succeeded in the commercial theatre. Nevertheless, the post– war development of puppet theatre was not smooth. As a result of the 28 February incident in 1947, the restriction on “freedom of assembly” implemented affected theatre performance directly. Including outdoor performance, public gathering were banned for one year in order to prevent possible trouble and provocation. The commercial troupe of glove puppet performed in a building is called “Indoor Theatre” (lāi–tâi–hì). The ritual theatre that is performed commonly in honor of deities and played in open–air is called “Outdoor Theatre” (gōa–tâi–hì). In theatrical troupe’ s angle, the latter provides basic technical training and survival main source of income; the former lets the performance display the imagination space. A great deal of effort has been made on Taiwan’s puppet theatre. What seems to be lacking, however, is its development of commercial theatre. Based on the analysis of a theatre “World Today”, we will discuss the relationship among of performance history, puppet troupes, and revolutionary phenomena in 1960s. All that may be enough to explain why this traditional theatre overturned the old superstitious stereotype and then to take on a new role, representing native culture.

puppet theatre；commercial theatre；native culture