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How to Make Bunraku Puppet Controller

You are viewing an Expert Village Video Series:

Large and complicated Japanese puppets. Learn how to use your wrists to control Bunraku puppets in this free puppetry lesson video from an expert puppeteer.

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Views: 5,493 Videos in Series: 20

Tags: puppet, theater, japanese, theatre, puppets, puppetry, Bunraku, kabuki

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Summary: Bunraku puppets are Japanese puppets ranging in size from two to four feet tall. Most of these puppets require three people to operate: one to control the right hand, one to control the left hand, one to control the feet and legs and the main puppeteer to control the right hand and head. The audience can see the puppeteers, who often perform with black hoods over their heads. Puppetry such as Bunraku is a theatre art of the highest order with some of the most amazing sets, costume design and character creations you will ever see. Sure, we’ll always have primitive puppets for children’s television shows and cheap comedies. But please remember that the world of puppetry goes far beyond those silly sock puppets into a fascinating universe of delight and imagination.

In this free puppet lesson video, you will learn how to make a controller which operates the hands of a Bunraku puppet. Our expert puppeteer will tell you what building materials you need, then demonstrate all the steps of constructing your very own puppet controller.

About the Expert

Contact: emilydecola.com

Expert: Emily DeCola, is a freelance designer, performer and director working all over the world with puppetry and masks on stage and in television and film. She is based in New York City. Her puppets and performances can been seen on screen in "LazyTown" (Nickelodeon), "Johnny and the Sprites" (Disney), "Moonfishing" (David Michael Friend), "Huyghe Le Corbusier" (Pierre Huyghe) and "Katalog" (Cipher Productions). She's a student of Master Marionnettist, Albrecht Roser, a member of his Meisterklasse, and has studied with Dan Hurlin and The SITI company, among others. DeCola is a proud recipient of a Jim Henson Foundation Project Grant, the 2004 UNIMA Grant for International Study in Puppetry, a YES Foundation Fellowship, and a series of great studio space grants from Chashama. She is thrilled that puppets are "finally hip!"

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