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In this article, the author examines the links between puppetry, theatre and dance. Topics discussed include Indian shadow puppets that acted religious epics such as the Mahabharata, beginning of traditional Japanese puppet theatre 'Bunraku' as popular entertainment during the 16th century and glove puppet plays that were permitted to continue performing throughout the period of the English Civil War.

This article features Hermann, an adult puppet theater production by the group Theater Im Wind in Braunschweig, Germany. The Hermann is a story of an average working man shown using Bunraku style of puppetry. He falls in love with a middle-aged Gypsy woman named Johanna. They lived together until Johanna was taken away and Enzo did nothing. Hermann raises Johanna's child Rosa for nine years until Rosa leaves in search for her mother. Hermann is filled with guilt and makes vague attempts to find Rosa. He never found Rosa but he did see Johanna again. While the were at his house, Johanna was once again taken; Hermann, like the first time, did nothing to help Joanna. Eventually, Herman grew old with a border, Enno. The show ends with Hermann's receiving money from his insurer because his house got burned down.

This article examines the Japanese theatre. The traditional performing arts of Japan--the various Gaku, Noh, Bunraku and Kabuki--are built on a set of contrasts between understatement and exaggeration; between distance and immediacy. Both setting and performance exploit such negatives as stillness, distance, absence and separation, but these occur against a background of opulence ranging from the elaborate Noh costumes to the technical magic of the Kabuki stage, and the lifelike movements of the Bunraku puppets. Although contrasts predominate, mergings also occur in these theatre forms. Multiple evocations of the sacred appear in even the most secular texts. One theatre genre evokes the others just as all the arts in Japan interpenetrate one another to a high degree. A constant feature of the Japanese theatre is the consistent, if paradoxical, presence of the not-there which infuses the text and action to create a rich fabric of suggested meaning. It is this fact that connects Japanese classical theatre to modern experimental theatre in the West.

This article describes how Bunraku, a traditional-style puppet theater in Japan, is being performed. Bunraku puppets are up to three feet tall. They are little men or women with mobile limbs, hands, and mouths. Each puppet is moved by three visible men who surround it, support it, accompany it. The master puppeteer controls the puppet's upper body and right arm. His face is uncovered, smooth, light, impassive, cold as a white onion which has just been washed. His two assistants are dressed in black; cloths cover their faces. One, gloved but with his thumb left uncovered, holds a large, stringed, scissors-like extension, with which he moves the puppet's left arm and hand; the other, crouching, supports the puppet's body and steadies its course. These men move along a shallow trench, which leaves their bodies visible. The scenery is behind them, as in the theater. On a platform to one side are the musicians and narrators. Their role is to express the text. Bunraku uses three separate scripts and presents them simultaneously in three places in the spectacle: the puppet, the manipulator, the vociferator. Bunraku has a limited idea of the voice. It does not suppress it but assigns it a very definite, essentially vulgar function.

The article discusses the cinematography of the film "Bunraku," shot by cinematographer Juan-Ruiz Anchia and directed by Guy Moshe. According to the article, the movie is based on an ancient type of Japanese puppet theater that normally involves a morality tale. The author discusses the camera movements, live-action components, and scenery.