National Bunraku Theater
Tuesday, October 1, 2024 at 7:30pm
Quick Center for the Arts, 200 Barlow Road, Fairfield, Connecticut
RESERVE NOWFree for Wesleyan students, faculty, staff, and alumni: reserve through the Wesleyan University Box Office.
$35 for general public: buy tickets through the Quick Center for the Arts Box Office.
The group's Connecticut debut is co-presented by Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts and Fairfield University’s Quick Center for the Arts.
Known for a unique puppetry technique developed in the mid-18th century involving three-person manipulation, the company of the National Theatre will present two quintessential masterpieces from their repertoire: “The Forest by the Tenjin Shrine” scene from The Love Suicide at Sonezaki (Sonezaki Shinju), a tragic tale written by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, often referred to as Japan’s Shakespeare; and “The Fire Watchtower” scene from Oshichi, the Greengrocer’s Daughter (Date Musume Koi no Higanoko), which depicts a woman’s desperate act to save her lover.
The puppeteers, who are visible to the audience, control each half-life-size doll, and act out a dramatic narrative in delicate, uncannily realistic movements alongside chanting and music from a shamisen (three-stringed Japanese lute). One of Japan’s foremost stage arts, this distinctive configuration blending a sung narrative and instrumental accompaniment with puppet drama was designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization as an “Important Intangible Cultural Property” in 1955.
This five-city tour was produced by Japan Society in New York City under partnership with the National Theatre (Japan Arts Council), which is supported, in part, by Japan Cultural Expo 2.0, All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd., Kikkoman Corporation, and Suntory Holdings Limited.