Puppet Origin Stories: Oink Oink and Quek Quek

Name: Oink Oink and Quek Quek
Maker: Ong Kian Sin and Tan Beng Tian
Year of Birth:  2004
Production of Birth: Pigs Can Fly

Oink Oink and Quek Quek, from the 2004 production of Pigs Can Fly, were created by The Finger Players’ Co-Founders Ong Kian Sin and Tan Beng Tian. Upcycled from an old bolster, their heads were incorporated with a spring mechanism that they learned while in Australian for a masterclass. The puppets were designed with the shape of water droplets in mind, as to them water represents life, a parallel to how puppeteers breathe life into their puppets.

Oink Oink and Quek Quek were from the 2004 production of Pigs Can Fly, written by Vicky Wong Ying Wuen. This was the first show that Co-Founder Ong Kian Sin directed. Oink Oink and Quek Quek were made primarily from an old bolster and Styrofoam. Before that, Co-Founder Ong Kian Sin and Tan Beng Tian had gone to Australia to participate in a mechanism masterclass, where they learnt how to use a spring to offer support without needing a puppeteer’s hands. This mechanism was incorporated into the head and nose of Oink Oink and Quek Quek.

This was also the time Kian Sin was properly considering a design language for the puppets of The Finger Players. Though Disney Productions and Japanese Anime were all the rage then, he felt that Japanese Anime characters were a little too cute, while Disney’s realistic style was not in line with what he had wanted to experiment with.

Being in a country with a tropical climate and high rainfall might have inspired Kian Sin to incorporate water drops as a design concept, as the head and body of Oink Oink and Quek Quek were shaped like water droplets. Kian Sin also liked the analogy of water representing life, similar to how puppeteers breathe life into their puppets.

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In 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, we spoke to the Makers and Designers of the puppets we have in The Finger Players (TFP), to create the repository that is the Puppet Origin Stories – a humble effort to highlight the background, and the making and design history of these puppets. We hope that this can be a continued endeavour at TFP, and we hope that you can go on this journey with us.