Let It Die

Rather Die Productions presents Let It Die - a strange, urgent, and darkly funny puppet show that peers into the bleakness of our times while offering warmth, honesty, and catharsis.

We are raising funds to support the creation of this work, going into providing a koha for the team involved, and set material costs.

Chye-Ling is a Chinese-Pakeha director, puppeteer and the creative director of Proudly Asian Theatre.

After training at Unitec (Bach. Performing and Screen Arts), Chye-Ling adapted her base in theatre making to puppetry, interning with historic puppetry company The Finger Players in Singapore, then training with US Muppeteer Peter Linz and Michael Schubach from New York company Puppet Kitchen, under Imagine Studios (NZ).

Her award winning original plays Call of the Sparrows and Orientation kicked off her use of puppetry and mask work in theatre.

She has since run workshops and worked on productions including Just above the Clouds and The Last Man on Earth is Trapped in a Supermarket, which travelled to the Melbourne puppetry festival, as well as being a lead puppeteer on MCK kids (webseries). Chye-Ling is the co-designer for a series of luminous puppets for Deep (Q, Fringe) and was the puppetry director for the Whale Rider stage show.

She believes in puppetry as a mode to express cultural identity and to create understanding by using the cultural forms we inherit. 

CAST:

Nikita Tu-Bryant (World of Wearable Arts, KITA)

Katie Burson (How To Art)

Natasha Daniel (Pop Up Globe)

Chye-Ling Huang (also the director/writer)

CREW:

Lighting: Rae Longshaw-Park (Chrome Dome & Schizo) 

Dramaturg: Marianne Infante (Shortland St)

Producer: Shervonne Grierson (SNART)

Music: BAYKER

The all-female team is an incredible lineup we can't afford but are doing it anyway - and we would love to give them a koha for their time! 

Your pūtea goes directly toward:

• Performer fees
• A tiny bit for some drill bits
• Rope and wire for the set, which is otherwise entirely made from found objects.

"The world is collapsing in on itself. What’s the point again?

From a mercurial, chaotic world appears the perfect storytellers: a small, lumpy cast of puppets.

They’re cute, petty and sassy - and have no idea how or why they got here. 

Trippy visuals. Techno beats. Weird laughs. Mixing Buddhist philosophy, surreal visuals and a teeny splice of hope, Let it Die is validation for anyone alive right now." 

Performed by an all-female creative team (with the exception of kickass techno beats from local legend BAYKER), the work combines carved lumpy puppets, found-object design, and surreal storytelling to capture what it feels like to be alive right now.

After experiencing funding-app burnout from other projects, we decided we couldn't wait to make this work. While mulling on the meaning of life, making art is the point for us - connecting with others in a room who feel a certain type of way we think will resonate with others and provide some recognition and relief. 

Director and creator Chye-Ling Huang says:

 “After burning out the funding grind, I wanted to make something that could keep me alive in creating that type of urgent, need-to-do-it art that can provide joy in the process. My team all feel the same way - there’s something really special about creating with that kaupapa in the air.  Let It Die is our way of making sense of the crumbling horror we all feel humming in the background, and still finding humour, chaos, and connection in the mess.”