Kabuki Theatre

           In my previous blog, I was not really a fan of the japanese performance but ever since I saw bits of the Kabuki play I changed my view of it completely.  From what I saw, the Kabuki plays were pretty funny - I obviously don't know how to speak japanese but I didn't have to to be able to laugh at the funny parts.  I think what made the performances funny were the different pitches of voices - you can tell when someone is telling a joke, acting stupid, or mocking someone because they usually use a high voice to express it.  The more we learned about it, the more interesting Kabuki became.  Now, I WOULD have to say that Kabuki is 10 times more interesting than the Indonesian dance because like the indonesian performance, they use big movements but their hair, face masks, and clothing change makes it more interesting.  The sound effects that go along with the performance are amazing as well.

             The history of Kabuki is interesting too.  Who would have thought that a male would be playing a female part - I'm sure that if we were not educated on this and we went to see a Kabuki performance no one would have guessed that the female role was actually being played by a man.  They definitely do a good job at what they do.  I think of that movie we once watched of the two best friends who reached their dreams and became famous actors - I can't help but to think of all the stress they went to to achieve their goals.  I am aware that it takes a lot of time and dedication to get a role in the Japanese theatre since they are so focused on having everything perfect.

Disappearance Speculations?

Today, I went to watch the first hour of the dress rehearsal of Disappearance. I missed the first couple of minutes and was therefore slightly confused throughout the performance but I tried my best to follow along.

Before I attended the rehearsal, I was skeptical of the use of multiple languages in the play. I did not really know how it was going to be pulled off; I thought perhaps the multiple languages would make it hard for the audience to understand the overall story. However, for as long as I watched, I found the dialogue easy to follow since each portion that was in a language other than English was immediately repeated and clarified through the characters’ words and actions. While watching, I wondered why some members of the cast were sitting on and behind the stage. I figured that this was the portion of the play’s structure that was based upon traditional Noh plays.

Now that I have sat through the first hour of Disappearance, I am thoroughly intrigued by the storyline. Before, I was unsure of whether or not I was going to attend the play, but now I’m going to try my best to make time for it. Although I missed the first portion, I still found it to be funny and engaging. I would really like to see the rest of the play because I have begun to form predictions for the ending. I think that there is something suspicious going on between the brothers and their friend. It seems highly suspect that the younger brother is not in any of the family pictures, that he has to take strange medications, and that without the friend, it seems to be implied that he would not exist. My main question is, did the friend “create” the younger brother? Is he some sort of Frankenstein-like being that needs to be regulated to keep in working order? Was he created as a companion for his lonely older brother? 

Onnagata

During our studies of South East Asia the concept of a man playing a women’s role came up multiple times.  This motif was laced throughout the history but, as a class, we never really fixated on it much; more just accepted the custom as an acceptable part of history most cultures endured.  However, the movie’s line emblazoning the belief that men were able to better portray a woman on stage sparked a bit of a debate in class- the first of this genre.

Having taken some Women’s Studies classes and having done many units on feminism in the past I was a little surprised at my own reaction to the line.  I understood what the narrator was saying and actually agree with him, which opposes any normal reaction I am accustomed to.   The explanation Guru and Dr. Palmer offered after further reinforced what I inferred from the single remark.  The act of portraying a female on stage is not synonymous with femininity or being a gendered female.  In my mind, it is the art of portraying what the theatre has built to be feminine- something very different from an actual women as it was a creation of the arts and something that requires years and years of practice.  That being said, I can completely see how the continued use of onnagata puts a sour taste in the mouths of modern society’s women.  Its difficult to stomach the blunt statement that a man can better play a woman than a woman herself. 

I also think it is interesting the origins of Kabuki are rooted in feminism as well.  Studying the history, the creation of onnagata, from a feminist perspective, does seem to be born out of controversial- arguably sexist- origins.  The style itself was created by a woman prostitute but was deemed a distraction by the court.  From there young boys and then men have since dominated the Kabuki stage.  Because society was not accepting of the “erotic” portrayal women displayed on stage, men took over.  This male dominance agrees with the patriarchal society of Japan and the world during this time.  With this history in mind, I think that the onnagata role becomes more controversial since women were originally stripped of their opportunity to foster and manifest the art form they birthed.

NOH: a cure for homesickness?

When we started working on the Noh style of walking the other day, I was pleasantly surprised with the technique we used. I found it to be very similar to the style I was taught to use when learning the roll-stepping technique for marching band.  As soon as we started practicing I was overcome with nostalgia for my marching days.

Freshman year of high school I joined my school’s marching band without any prior experience and with no idea what to expect. Little did I know this group would become my family and improve my high school experience exponentially. I was initially paranoid that I would never be able to imitate the older students’ practiced gaits as they moved smoothly across the field. However, just by the end of that first year, I had showed marked improvement and only became better as time went on. My band director and the bands’ student leaders taught us how to curve our feet upward when stepping and how to keep our upper bodies from swaying with each movement. When guru said to keep our upper bodies still, I instantly called upon my well-practiced skills! I kept reminding myself of all the different reminders my director had used; according to him, if you slipped while practicing in the rain and mud you obviously weren’t roll stepping correctly.

This practice was probably one of my favorite classes by far. I had had difficulty mastering the other dance styles so the fact that I could pick up on this one so quickly make me very proud. It was also a great pick-me-up; I had been feeling homesick for a while and this was the perfect dose of my past to cure it!

Kabuki Theatre vs. Chinese Opera

       Today in class, I could not help but see the many similarities between Kabuki and Chinese Opera.  Both incorporate different types of make-up designs that indicate different kinds of characters.  For Kabuki, there were different make-up patterns to indicate the hero and villain.  Chinese Opera uses make-up to indicate characters such as a clown character and female character.  Also, both types of theater have males that specialize in portraying female roles.  Neither make use of women in performances.  As opposed to other types of Asian theaters, Kabuki and Chinese Opera incorporate speaking and dialogues.  They also center around song and music produced by instruments.  Another aspect of performance these two types have in common is that they use a lot of acrobatics in performances.  While in some Chinese performances there is a quick change of masks, Kabuki also uses quick change but of costume.
      
       However, there are several aspects that separate Kabuki from Chinese Opera.  Kabuki incorporates very elaborate sets and props into their performances.  There are several entry points to the stage and even trap doors.  The elaborate set pieces and trap doors that were originally manually operated, incorporate mechanisms that change the set quickly.  Also, while Kabuki can be serious and emotional, as a whole it appears to be more comedic than Chinese Opera.  This is probably due to the fact that it is watched more by ordinary people.  Kabuki is very popular and many middle class people go to see performances.  There is also a lot of audience participation in Kabuki.  The audience sends out shouts of enthusiasm and there is even a foot bridge that the actors use that leads into the audience.  Finally, I noticed that several stories in Kabuki center around animals and animals that are disguised as humans.  Characters such as these use stage hands to help them with things like changing costume on stage.       
   

Culture

As I was writing my last sentence in my last post I remembered sitting in my 7^th grade World History class and thinking “Why do we need to learn about stuff that happened in other countries?”  But now that I am older, I have come to realize learning about other countries and their cultures is quite important.  If we didn't  learn about other cultures we would only know about the average American life and nothing else. We should explore different countries' cultures so that we can learn how they live and what things they are adapted to doing. It's pretty interesting if you really care about learning how life works on other sides of the world. Also, accepting other people's culture is the first big step to world peace. But we need to be really open-minded enough to accept other cultures. Its not easy to say "I do accept your culture," it takes a whole lot of understanding aside from the food, there is also the customs - the way of living, habits and all that. Sometimes we consider the customs and traditions of other people offensive and abusive, that's why this really needs a lot of work and understanding.

       After coming to college, I have become close friends with people of various religions, backgrounds, and races.  This is something completely new to me because my friends from back home were primarily of the same race and religion.  I have tried different types of food from different countries – some which I hated and some I liked, I have watched different popular television shows from their country (of course I am not able to understand it), and I have seen different clothing patterns and designs.  This was all an excellent experience for me because I got to get a tiny taste of something new from different cultures/countries and I wouldn’t change this experience for the world!

Japanese performances Vs Indonesian Performances

From what I have seen so far from the Japanese performances, they are willing to be much more loose with their performances.  I say this because I don't think I can recall an Indonesian performance having some sort of humor to it, where as a lot of the performances we've watched for the Japanese performance does.  How ever, the Japanese performance seems like it is much more slow-paced and not a lot of movement is involved (particularly with the feet) making it seem a little bit more boring than an Indonesian performance.  If I had to choose which show to watch, I would probably choose an Indonesian performance, more specifically the one where there are sudden mask changes, because it seems much more interesting to watch.  I know that some Japanese performances deals with mask changing as a part of their performance, but i don't find it as fascinating ( probably because the masks are too small.)  Something about the tiny feet movement bothers me as well, maybe i'm just a fan of BIG movements because i know for a fact they will keep me engaged.  The only Japanese performance i have seen so far that looks appealing to me are the ones dealing with the puppets.  I find it odd/interesting that they have to spend so many years practicing the different movements of the limbs - it all seems so easy to me but I guess they strive for a whole lot of perfection.  Never in my life would i have thought that it could take more than one person to work a puppet - but hey, you learn something new every day.