File puptcrit/puptcrit.0710, message 62


To: Puptcrit <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
From: Ed Atkeson <edatkeson-AT-earthlink.net>
Date: Fri, 12 Oct 2007 17:27:17 -0400
Subject: [Puptcrit] Kuruma Ningyo at Williams College


I went to see the Shinnai Narrative Singing and Kuruma Ningyo  
Puppetry at Williams College in Massachusetts last week. It was  
called "Laughter and Tears from Old Japan."

It was in a small theatre on campus, sold out. About 150 people. They  
did two shows, one short and somber one-puppet classic called "snow,"  
and a longer funny piece called "Yaji and Kita." A 200 year old knee  
slapper.

The biggest star of the evening was the Shinnai singer. He sang all  
the dialog using different voices, sometimes throwing in bits of  
English which was a crowd pleaser. Especially words like "my balls"  
and "horse shit." According to the program, this style of singing is  
from the 1700s and the early works of the genre were mostly Romeo and  
Juliet style double suicides as these stories had the richness of  
romance and tragedy combined.

Each puppet was controlled by a single puppeteer. Bunraku is with  
three puppeteers, they explained, and Kuruma Ningyo was with one. The  
puppeteer would sit on a little wheeled box which freed his feet to  
control the feet of the puppet. Worked pretty well, I'd never seen  
anything like it. The puppeteers could scoot around pretty quickly.  
Two shamisen players accompanied the singer, a good show!

The singer was a living national treasure (Bearer of Intangible  
Cultural Property).

That's my report. I thought the comedy came across better than the  
tragedy, but I didn't have a very good seat. There was no stage, no  
special lighting, it was sort of like seeing something at a state  
fair. Imagine a show like this set in sumptuous surroundings in an  
urban pleasure district of the Edo period, the "floating world." It  
could be just incredible.
best,
Ed A
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