Noh and Western Theatre

After watching the film on Macbeth performed in the Noh style, the class had a discussion on the differences in acting between western and nonwestern styles, specifically Noh and Asian styles.  This also eventually led to the examination of differences in directing and actor attitudes toward their directors.

            I really disagreed with the point made that Noh style is very “in the head”, further explained to mean that the style is very driven by cognition and facial expression.  I think this is one of the biggest differences between Noh and western theatre; western theatre seems existent upon facial expression.  Facial expression dominates all other physical expression and thus the audience pays more attention to the faces of the actors rather than taking a Gestalt approach and stepping back to examine a bigger picture.  The filmography of the Macbeth movie tried to adjust for this western bias by seldom zooming in on the faces of the actors.  It countered the western perception by focusing in on other physical movements of the body and showing the whole fluidity of the body in the performance.  The conditioning of westerners to focus in on the face was still not eliminated though as evidenced in the immediate discussion of the face and mind.  Just in doing Noh dance I have learned that the heavy, vital training lies heavily in areas unsuspected by westerners such as the fingers, the feet and essence.

            Essence is the other main thing I have used to differentiate between two cultures of theatre; it separates Noh from the highly formulated components of western performance.  To me Noh is more inclusive and relies on intangible forces outside the body.  Energy and connectedness with nature, direction and general forces seem very integral and evident in Noh.  For instance, the intro to the Noh walk involves a connection to energy in the upward direction so one is able to stand in style.  The walk itself should look like a glide, showing the inherent connection with nature and elimination of gravity.   I interpret these outside forces as expanding the style far past cognition and the body to a oneness with everything in existence.  Asian theater's deep origins in Hinduism helped me feel comfortable with this concept of oneness I experienced after watching Macbeth.  As oneness is a philosophy laced throughout Hinduism, the connection with Noh theatre seems sensible not only in appearance and vibration but through decent.