Read today’s post here. Read the other review from today (Flea Circus) here. Follow with Flickr pics (you’re really going to need this!!) here.

I had just enough time to go over to the Auditorium (the other side of the Puppet Project), where a performance was being held by a Japanese troupe; Chiryu Karakuri Puppetry. There’s heaps of images of this show, and the explanation in the review will make them a lot clearer (I hope).

The auditorium is something like 200+ seats, with a proscenium arch stage. At the centre was a large projection screen, which was clearly in front of the actual puppet stage. To the stage left of that, the narrator and shamisen would sit (if you’re not familiar with Japanese puppetry: the narrator speaks all dialogue, as well as any songs and third person speech. The shamisen - a Japanese lute - is the main musical accompaniment, and provides much of the atmosphere. The puppeteers do not speak at all. The narrator is extremely important, as they provide the pacing of the story)

There was a short video introduction to the puppets, as well as a live version, with a Japanese woman introducing the play we were about to see. The following bit of background - you’ll need it - is skimmed from that. Chiryu, a town in Japan, have been producing a puppet festival every two years since the Edo period. The festival has a parade, during which specially handcrafted stages on wheels are created. Think of a mini temple on wheels. The puppets are operated by strings, but don’t think of it like marionettes - you’d be wrong! Think of it more like a mechanical operation, which works mainly from underneath (and occasionally from above). The stage is 7m high and 5 square metres wide/long, and has two sections to it: the stage area for the puppets/puppeteers, and above an area for the narrator and shamisen player. There are sometimes more than 80 strings, and there are anywhere between one to five people operating each puppet. Chiryu puppetry therefore, is only specific to one town, and should not be thought of as the same as bunraku. 

Because the performers could not bring their stage on wheels, they made a temporary one out of a three-walled booth/curtain. There were four puppets in all, two of which were on separate ‘planks’ (I have no idea what the real terminology is, so I’m making it up so it’s easier to understand), one of which was on a pivoting rod, and another which, by use of a pulley/weight system, could be moved along the top of the booth - downstage to upstage and vice versa, as well as up and down in general. The storyline: a battle. What happens? Well, I’m guessing each character fights with one another until only two are left to kill each other. I don’t really know, since I don’t understand Japanese, there was no translation, and the actions were absolutely vague when not in combination with the dialogue. (Not a bad thing necessarily, but it makes it hard to describe here) 

As the narrator tells the story, the puppets move up and down on their planks, move their arms, heads, legs, and hands. They can also rotate. Delicate or fluid movement it wasn’t; but this type of puppetry isn’t suited to that. (Gosh, it’s so hard to describe without having a video of it) One of the characters not only does all of that, but somehow, it walks off its plank, does headstands one after the other as it climbs over mountains and rivers, climbs up the pole of the booth, and then monkey-swings its way across to the other side. I don’t even begin to understand how it all works, since there seemed to be no visible mechanism for the strings to be able to do that (the monkey swing for instance, meant that the character hung by two hands, then one hand let go, the body swung to the left, and the hand magically caught the next part of the bar, and repeated so until it crossed) 

The narrator had a beautiful voice, and the music was evocative for a battle. The puppeteers were very good, although I could have done without seeing the occasional hand appearing out of nowhere to catch or move a string (it could have been sightlines. I was sitting stage left of the puppet booth, and could see much of the puppeteers as they moved around behind the set). Lighting was kept simple: front white wash, no fancy tricks or even a change at all. Costumewise, all the puppeteers wore what looked like a traditional kimono type top (don’t ask me what the actual name is), with one performer all in black - including black hood - as they were required to appear in front of the booth to retrieve one of the puppets after it has been killed. The narrator and shamisen player also appeared in traditional costume. 

My personal preference leans more towards to Ningyo joruri, otherwise known as bunraku. But that’s just me! I did enjoy the performance, but I didn’t find it had the strong emotional connection that you get from watching bunraku. There didn’t seem to be a ’stage presence’ as there is with bunraku. The puppets also at first seemed to be very unpolished in terms of movement and it was much harder than normal for me to follow a Japanese language performance. And as it’s done for a parade, I think the movements were extremely slow, and not that interesting to watch, at least at the beginning. Once the puppets start doing tricks, that’s when I started paying attention more. With the proper stage, and in a parade, I have no doubt that these performers and their puppets could really be quite amazing. 

This for me, seemed more fascinating in the picture provided in the media for the show; the temple-like stage on wheels, with the puppets appearing in it. For an experience of a new kind of puppet, it was fantastic. After the show, we were invited (everyone in the audience that is) to step onstage and check everything out, and all of the performers were extremely friendly in offering their puppets and strings to play with. Kids and adults alike had a go, and one of the puppeteers even took a (blurry) shot of me holding one of the puppets. But as a performance: I’m afraid I’d much rather see it in its original setting. But that’s a minor issue really, and more of a personal preference. 

My vote: (3.5 UNIMA stars out of 5)

If you haven’t already, check out the Flickr set. It has some amazing behind-the-scenes shots of how everything works, as well as images of the show itself. Check back soon for tomorrow’s diary post. UPDATE: Read the next diary post here.