Here is a summation about all the things I have learnt in the Bunraku unit:

• By researching the basic concepts of Bunraku, I was able to get an overall concept of Bunraku which was good as a starting point.
• Bunraku is the traditional theatre in Japan, and involves the manipulation of puppets.
• It takes three people to manipulate a Bunraku puppet. One controls the head and the right arm, the second controls the body and the left arm, and the foot puppeteer uses both hands to control the legs and the feet.
• A Bunraku show also has a narrator which chants the lines of the play, and a shamisen player assists the narrator by playing music during the performance. It’s important for the narrator and the shamisen player to work together, as if they are not in sync, the puppeteers will not be in sync.
• The puppeteers are in full view of the audience, but they wear black cloaks and black hoods to conceal themselves.
• We learnt about Chikamatsu Monzaemon, and his play The Love Suicides at Sonezaki. We read the ‘Four Major plays of Chikamatsu’ which were
  

• • The Love Suicides at Sonezaki (Sonezaki Shinjū)

  • The Battles of Coxinga (Kokusenya Kassen)

  • The Uprooted Pine (Nebiki no Kadomatsu)

  • The Love Suicides at Amijima (Shinjū Ten no Amijima)

  By reading these plays, I learnt that Chikamatsu did focus on Love Suicides and all of his plays were traditional and cultural.

• We then got told we were going to perform a small part of The Love Suicides at Sonezaki, which was daunting as I knew little about Bunraku.
• In order for us to do this production, we had to make a Bunraku puppet, so we went on an excursion to the Polygot Theatre and undertook a Bunraku Puppet workshop. This was a valuable learning experience for this unit as we learnt, and built our own Bunraku puppet, which I had no previous knowledge of, we also built our own small puppets, and we learnt a small bit about manipulating a Bunraku puppet and how important it is to maintain the eyeline.
• We did basic exercises, such as using a wooden cylinder, and holding it in one place, and trying to move around the cylinder without actually moving the cylinder. This basic exercise, was actually very difficult, but taught me that manipulating a puppet, involved moving my body to suit the puppet, not moving the puppet to suit me. By moving my body, it helped make the actions of the puppet more realistic.
• We then practiced manipulating our Bunraku puppet, who we named ‘Baby’. Kate, Ronelle and I worked as a team, taking it in turns to manipulate the feet, arms and head. By doing this, we all gained experience in all 3 areas of the puppet, and realised how much team work it takes to manipulate a Bunraku puppet.
• I learnt a lot of information from this workshop, as it was hands on experience that could not be learnt by watching a video.
• But, by watching a video of a Bunraku performance, I realised how important prop size is in a performance. In the video, the props were too large and looked unrealistic, as they were nearly half the size of the puppet.
• Back at school, we manipulated ‘Baby’ again for a little bit then began work on our adaptation of Love Suicides. Ronelle was in charge of editing the script and suiting it to us, Kate was in charge of finding images for the backdrop which were going to be displayed through a projector, and in charge of the set design. I was in charge of costumes, and I found many patterns that could be used as potential costumes.
• We also made gestures for our puppet which stuck to the traditional Bunraku style. ‘Baby’s’ gestures were highly stylised and were very graceful and slow. By applying these gestures to ‘Baby’ and witnessing them first hand, it helped me realise how gestures can affect a performance.
• We then started our Research Investigations on Bunraku. I investigated “How would the puppets, musicians, narrator and puppeteers be costume in a Bunraku production of The Love Suicides at Sonezaki by Chikamatsu Monzaemon?”.
  
• By investigating this, I learnt much information regarding the costumes worn by all people involved in a Bunraku performance. This assisted me in deciding how our puppets should be costumed in our production of the Love Suicides.
• The research investigation marks helped me realise what I need to improve on, and this will become very useful in Year 12 for my final RI.
• After completing the Bunraku research investigation, and after a short break, we were ready to perform our production of The Love Suicides at Sonezaki.
• Our set design, costumes and props were limited; however, I still felt I learnt a lot about the set design, props and costumes needed for a performance. I also have an image in my head of what the music and narrator would sound like.
• By working as a team, to control ‘Baby’, we could overcome any problems we experienced. By manipulating ‘Baby’ we had to constantly work as a team and communicate. Our team work skills allowed us to overcome ‘Baby’s’ posture problems which involved ‘Baby’s’ legs sticking out too far in front, which made the performance look very unrealistic.
• We filmed us practicing with ‘Baby’ before our performance so we could see where we need to improve and what we were doing right. This was also useful as it was visual material, not something read in a book.
• I now have a reasonably broad knowledge of Bunraku puppetry, the stagecraft elements involved and how to manipulate a Bunraku puppet. I feel I have learnt much in this unit, and it has inspired me to learn about many other theatre practices around the world.
• This is an example of a Kimono pattern which could be used as a costume.