— Ginna Lopez
In the previous assignment [my professor] posted three videos which I watched and enjoyed. Thanks for those videos I did not see the reading so difficult to understand. For instance, the magic of the puppets was inexplicable. It was not just a fantasy and adventure. The puppet play, “The Love Suicides at Amijima,” caught me on the side of feelings and it didn’t let me go until the end. I was impressed with Sumitayu’ talents who was able to convey various emotions to the audience. The power to change voices in a quick and clear way. He could communicate each puppets thoughts, emotions, words, and feelings in a very extraordinary way. I also think is important to include the person who plays the samisen because the background music gave a touch of suspense to the playwright that made the audience wonder what was going to happen. Another thing that struck me is how puppets were created so much like humans that even the expressions of the face are remarkably like human expressions. Thanks to Tamao, we could perceive puppets actions as if they were real. Tamao with his explicit movements, brings puppets to life. But I must also have to give credit to the other young guys that move the lower and upper extremities of the puppets, it shows a complete movement of the puppets body in which it makes this show so successful. I liked Tamao’s face of concentration. He doesn’t show any expressions at all. I also like the connection and coordination Sumitayu and Tamao have from the beginning to the end of the play. The playwright has a dramatic ending like most Chikamatsu’s works. The end of the play moved me a lot. From the moment he made the decision to bury the sword on Koharu’s chest and then Jihei hanged himself. I concluded it was true love not an obsession as I mentioned in the previous assignment.
