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 _______________________________________________ List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit Archives: http://www.driftline.org
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