International Puppet Festival and The Art Institute SHANK’S MARE

Simple Plot with a Moral Story

Puppets are traditionally used to inform illiterate folks on moral issues. Think Punch and Judy, religious Muslim and Hindu puppets.

This plot features two stories joined in time and space. The villainy of the samurai earns him the death of his son and eternal hell. The intellectual aspirations of the astronomer and his female apprentice earn him a fulfilled death and her a role in modern science.

Excellent Ensemble from East and West

This is a work of Japanese bunraku — where three puppeteers manipulate one puppet, and kuruma ningyō, where a puppeteer seated on a small, three-wheeled stool, animates the puppet with crouched feet and hands. Bunaku is not common in U.S. puppet shows. The exuberant partnership of Japanese master, Koryu Nishikawa V and former apprentice, now master, Tom Lee, bring this intriguing puppetry genre to the Stock Exchange Trading Room at The Art Institute of Chicago.

International Puppet Festival Hosts Less Common Bunraku Work

In this reviewer’s view, the excellence we most enjoy in this performance is the work of the puppeteers, musicians and behind-the-set craftsmen. There is no dialogue, only a few projected speech balloons. The scenery is a live video-feed of miniature sets projected onto the back screen. Evocative music drives the performances. Cieko Hara on the Shamisen and fue represent the fierce, anguished samurai. Bill Ruyle on the hammered dulcimer is the ethereal voice of the stars. They were, for this writer, truly exceptional.