Just discovered this:
http://puppetlady.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/rough-magic-theatre-feast-of-st-george-jabberwocky-goes-down-a-treat-with-london-crowds/

See the photos, the woman 'wears' a shadow puppet screen similar to the way ushers at a movie sell snacks - the screen is basically the lid of a box that opens out, and the lid is attached to a loop of fabric that one wears around the neck. I can't describe it well, but it's very neat.

Great find, Na. It's a modern day variant of the Japanese kubikake (Neck-Hanging) stage used by kugutsu hand puppeteers (from the C7th CE to today, for example: Eimei Katami).

I recently commissioned a local joinery company to build one for my East West Puppets.



The first is an image from c1715, and



this from a performance by Eimei Katami in London last year.

Regards,
Dorian

 

Great find, Na. It's a modern day variant of the Japanese kubikake (Neck-Hanging) stage used by kugutsu hand puppeteers (from the C7th CE to today, for example: Eimei Katami). 

Ooh, thanks for that. I didn't know there was a Japanese version, which is a pity because I have two books on Japanese theatre. That's something I'm definitely going to go find and read about now!

Good Luck with your search. There's bugga all out there; some helpful Google (or search engine) key words would be: kairaishi, kugutsu (especially: Kim, Yung-Hee; "Songs to Make the Dust Dance: The Ryojin Hisho of Twelfth-Century Japan", Berkeley, CA:  University of California Press, 1994. Online at: http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft2f59n7x0/ p.13ff), ebisu-mawashi, and hako-mawashi. Also see: S. Addiss, G. Groemer, & J. Thomas Rimer (ed.), "Traditional Japanese Arts And Culture: An Illustrated Sourcebook", University of Hawaii Press, 2006.

Regards,
Dorian

Thanks for that. Yeah, tracking down info about Japanese puppetry is pretty difficult. The books I have were bought for me while family were in Japan - that's how hard it is to get them!

Seems the puppeteer you discovered Na has knack for using unique screens for shadow puppetry.  Did you see this page where she uses an umbrella? http://www.roughmagictheatre.co.uk/html/jolly_rodger.html#.UXfEPsp498F

When I was still in High school I did a "stage" like this for hand puppets similar to the Japanese one.  I actually used it in my first "professional" audition for puppets and it got me the job!

I didn't see that umbrella this time around, but have seen it before (and a few other people who do it too). Actually that looks like a photographic reflector: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflector_%28photography%29

Awesome stuff! How does the lady walking in the parade do the light source? I couldn't figure that part out. Always like seeing new ways to used shadow puppetry!

In an earlier blog entry she posts she uses a battery-powered florescent light.

Regards,
Dorian

Yeah, I saw what looked like a fluoro light as well. I'm guessing though that during the day it's not needed due to the sunlight.