Sunday morning started early because I went with a friend to a rose farm and spent a few hours picking roses. Besides the brilliance of the experience itself (I don`t think I can ever forget the smell!!), I received a huge bouquet as a gift for helping out, in lue of pay. I will post pictures to my picasa album soon so you can enjoy them!
Ok, now for Noh!
**I pretty much copied this entire post from a friend T who went to the play with me. I will bold the statements I edited or changed but otherwise consider everything her words and therefore copyright.**
Noh Theatre
One of my goals while in Japan is to see Noh (dance-drama and masks) and Kabuki (dance-drama and make-up) both performed solely by men in the traditional style. I went to see a production of Noh Sunday night.
I got picked up by A (my tea ceremony friend - also the only young person besides myself) and together her and I and our teacher (we will just call her sensei) drove into Oita around 3:30PM. We arrived shortly before 5 after grabbing some snacks on the way and walked into the castle grounds where luckily sensei`s friends had saved us some seats. A had to sit father away though because my friend T was coming too and sensei`s friends did not save enough seats :(
I got picked up by A (my tea ceremony friend - also the only young person besides myself) and together her and I and our teacher (we will just call her sensei) drove into Oita around 3:30PM. We arrived shortly before 5 after grabbing some snacks on the way and walked into the castle grounds where luckily sensei`s friends had saved us some seats. A had to sit father away though because my friend T was coming too and sensei`s friends did not save enough seats :(
The show was to be performed outside in the natural setting of the ruins of the castle. Good idea; it was cool. The backdrop for the event was a hundreds-of-years-old rock wall from a collapsed parapet and the sculpted trees so indicative of a Japanese garden.
The show began with several dances done by school kids in traditional dress. I didn't know what to expect from the experience, but once the music and dancing began, I thought the show had begun. Sensei was sure to tell us this was only the warm-up act but she waited until after all the kids had performed. I think there might have been an announcement even but I was too busy catching up with T. I was prepared to relinquish myself to the power of the play, but I kept getting disturbed by announcements and the people talking around us. The warm up was a group of local kids who train at the Oita theater school, I guess, and then the real show began when a barrel-sized fire on each side of the performance area was lit. I've had a lot on my mind, so my focus has been constantly redirected by wandering thoughts, and I kept getting distracted by the sky and the sounds of nature around me. Despite my lack of focus, the crows cawing actually really enhanced the inherent creepiness of Noh's sights and sounds. (I am in agreement with T`s statements here completely).
Finally, the show began in earnest. How can I describe it? Noh has an ensemble of drummers and chanters, and a narrator. Simply put, the narrator tells a story and characters from that story step forward for you to contemplate. The audience listens to the story and music while taking in the emotions emanating from the masks, and what the actors portray through the masks. It's quite interactive in a silent, still way. The actors move a little, and very slowly. The costumes are luxuriant and pleasing to the eye. Everything about it is rich: The textures, fabrics, masks, drumming, chanting, and singing...
Japanese art-focused thought is heavy. Even children's books include death and loss. There's a series of cute illustrated books in the school libraries that depict all kinds of happy, smiling faces while they describe terrible sadness like the loss of a parent and the destruction of homes and lives. I actually could not believe it when I read the story of Little Red Riding Hood to one of my classes and they all proclaimed at the end `that isn`t how it ends!` Seems they were expected the wolf to eat the girl for being enough of an idiot to stay in the house with an apparent wolf. Turns out this is just how the story ends in Japan. The sounds of Sunday night's performance were dripping with despair, and let me tell you, there is no comic relief for what seems like ages. I was waiting for it; in my head I was wondering when it was coming. It came in the form of a short, separate play at the end of the night. Some dance comes at the end of the play, but it's more like movement with intention. The dance includes the flipping of kimono sleeves and fluid manipulation of fans.
I'm very glad I went, but I didn't get the powerful escape that I was looking for. Maybe it was the outdoor setting, or the crows, or the rain: Twice during the performance it started raining and 200 umbrellas emerged suddenly. In my distracted mindset, I had to stifle many giggles in response to the "Waaahhhhhs" that sounded straight out of an SNL parody. I wanted to get lost in the verisimilitude and suspension of disbelief, and that just didn't happen. But that's ok. I experienced Noh, and that was my main goal.
The show began with several dances done by school kids in traditional dress. I didn't know what to expect from the experience, but once the music and dancing began, I thought the show had begun. Sensei was sure to tell us this was only the warm-up act but she waited until after all the kids had performed. I think there might have been an announcement even but I was too busy catching up with T. I was prepared to relinquish myself to the power of the play, but I kept getting disturbed by announcements and the people talking around us. The warm up was a group of local kids who train at the Oita theater school, I guess, and then the real show began when a barrel-sized fire on each side of the performance area was lit. I've had a lot on my mind, so my focus has been constantly redirected by wandering thoughts, and I kept getting distracted by the sky and the sounds of nature around me. Despite my lack of focus, the crows cawing actually really enhanced the inherent creepiness of Noh's sights and sounds. (I am in agreement with T`s statements here completely).
Finally, the show began in earnest. How can I describe it? Noh has an ensemble of drummers and chanters, and a narrator. Simply put, the narrator tells a story and characters from that story step forward for you to contemplate. The audience listens to the story and music while taking in the emotions emanating from the masks, and what the actors portray through the masks. It's quite interactive in a silent, still way. The actors move a little, and very slowly. The costumes are luxuriant and pleasing to the eye. Everything about it is rich: The textures, fabrics, masks, drumming, chanting, and singing...
Japanese art-focused thought is heavy. Even children's books include death and loss. There's a series of cute illustrated books in the school libraries that depict all kinds of happy, smiling faces while they describe terrible sadness like the loss of a parent and the destruction of homes and lives. I actually could not believe it when I read the story of Little Red Riding Hood to one of my classes and they all proclaimed at the end `that isn`t how it ends!` Seems they were expected the wolf to eat the girl for being enough of an idiot to stay in the house with an apparent wolf. Turns out this is just how the story ends in Japan. The sounds of Sunday night's performance were dripping with despair, and let me tell you, there is no comic relief for what seems like ages. I was waiting for it; in my head I was wondering when it was coming. It came in the form of a short, separate play at the end of the night. Some dance comes at the end of the play, but it's more like movement with intention. The dance includes the flipping of kimono sleeves and fluid manipulation of fans.
I'm very glad I went, but I didn't get the powerful escape that I was looking for. Maybe it was the outdoor setting, or the crows, or the rain: Twice during the performance it started raining and 200 umbrellas emerged suddenly. In my distracted mindset, I had to stifle many giggles in response to the "Waaahhhhhs" that sounded straight out of an SNL parody. I wanted to get lost in the verisimilitude and suspension of disbelief, and that just didn't happen. But that's ok. I experienced Noh, and that was my main goal.
After the main performance there was comedic relief in the form of kyogen (traditional comedic skits) performed by a very famous actor who has performed as far as and the US in things as diverse as Shakespeare. Has very talented and it was a nice relief to be able to understand the Japanese coming from their mouths since all of the Noh performance had been in traditional Japanese and even reading along in the program which had translations into modern Japanese I still found it very difficult. The subject of the main performance was a grandmother who initially loses her son and daughter and one one grandchild to WWII. She later loses her other grandchild when his school is chosen to bring weapons to the front line. Pretty sad, like T mentioned. The kyogen was about two drunk guys and their master. The master punishes them for their insolence by tying them up and leaving them locked in a room but the men find a way to access alcohol (in a very hilarious manner) and when the master returns they are more drunk than when he left. The skit ends with the master giving up on the men and releasing them to their drunken stupor.
Well, driving exam is on Friday so you definitely should hear from me after that and while I know I mentioned tea ceremony a lot here - I realize it might be the first time so I am coming out with a nice entry about some traditional arts I have been involved in, including tea ceremony.
Love!
No comments:
Post a Comment