Long before the days of Jeff Dunham, Sesame Street, The Muppets, and Avenue Q, Banraku wowed audiences with its beautiful blend of fantastical story telling and the spectacle of the puppets to create a rich universe of Banraku goodness! :)
Hard to believe that with a flip of one mechanism, the beautiful woman above can turn into such a demon...
Banraku is an art form that depends on 3 puppeteers working in perfect harmony to control life size puppets. It is the epitome of intricacy and subtlety, and if it's done right then it looks effortless and it's amazing how emotionally connected one can feel with these wooden (but far from stiff) thespians.
This following link is a truly fascinating behind the scenes demonstration of the puppets that make this form of theatre so captivating and the puppeteers that make it all possible:
http://chawedrosin.wordpress.com/2010/01/19/bunraku-puppet-demonstration/
This was so sick. I love puppets, they're incredibly specific, it was fun seeing the puppets in action. Albeit minority creepy.
ReplyDeleteHOLY PUPPET FACE BATMAN!!!! That puppet is going to haunt my nightmares.
Avenue Q is awesome. And this is pretty cool too.
ReplyDeleteI watched the video and I thought it was interesting how many strings and levers there were for expression.
The one doll in particular (the woman/demon) was awesome! I like seeing the transformation.
Another interesting thing was that they only used the mouth to laugh.
wow! this is really cool. it's so crazy to see how many little things only make one big thing change, such as the expressions on their faces!
ReplyDeleteLoveeeeeddd it...but I will never be able to sleep again. You have my vote! :)
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