Last Sunday, my host family took me to a modern rendition of a traditional Kabuki play and it was absolutely phenomenal. The performance was put on by the leading Kabuki company called Hensei Nakamura-za, founded in 2000 but based on Nakamura-za, one of the original Kabuki companies that performed from the 17th-19th centuries during the Edo period. In recent years, this troupe has tried to bridge traditional Kabuki with modern dramatic styles. This practice of resurrecting old pieces and performing them anew has drawn some criticism from conservative fans, but also much lauding from new audiences. The four-week run of the play that I watched was nearly sold out, and the audience sat about 750 people! Kabuki is very much steeped in family dynasty, in fact Nakamura-san comes from 18 generations of Kabuki players, an unbroken line of actors.
In the performance last weekend, two of Nakamura-san's sons starred in leading roles. The one in the middle is said to resemble his father's acting style, and I thought both were excellent.
The play was an adaptation of a popular Kabuki play called Sannin Kichisa Tomoe no Shiranami, or The Three Thieves Named Kichisa. It is one of more than 360 works by the prolific Kabuki playwright Kawatake Mokuami. Mokuami is especially well known for his "Shiranami" plays in which his heroes are thieves. The production I watched was about 3.5 hours with two intermissions. My host family generously reserved the best seats in the house which happen to be on pillows in front of the stage, which means we were seated on the floor for more than 200 minutes and I still enjoyed it tremendously! The original play, however, is close to double that length; this production offered four of the original seven acts demonstrating one way in which it catered to modern audiences. Traditionally, Kabuki plays are day-long events, but this company abridges classical pieces in order to appeal to younger audiences and keep the art form alive.
Unlike most modern Western theatre, Kabuki is intentionally non-realistic. Actors speak/sing/chant in ways that enhance their voices, and their movements and expressions are exaggerated, to say the least. Here are some examples I found online:
Another still from Sannin Kichisa. These are not merely publicity photos, however; both this and the photo above and below capture moments from the play. This trio struck a pose at the end of their scenes and applause erupted each time.
The three thieves named Kichisa in the final act
These two photos are from other Nakamura-za productions.
I don't know enough to provide a thorough history of Kabuki, but in brief, the art form emerged roughly 400 years ago during the Edo period, around the same time Shakespeare's works appeared in front of Jacobean audiences. At the time, Kabuki was government-sanctioned, but the opening of Japan to the West in 1868 freed Kabuki from various government restrictions. Originally in Kabuki, as in Shakespeare's plays, men play both male and female roles. However, unlike most of Shakespeare produced today, all Kabuki players are still only men. The female roles are very popular, and often an actor will specialize in playing female characters. Taiko drums traditionally accompany Kabuki theatre, but in this production, there was a mix of taiko and rock music, again as an effort to attract new, younger audiences. The set involves a revolving stage with a long aisle that leads into the audience and one or more trapdoors. This production kept the revolving stage and there were two aisles that bisected the audience from which actors often entered.
One of the most exciting parts of this production was the actor-audience interaction. All of the leading actors entered one by one from the audience and walked down the aisle talking to the audience while certain audience members shouted out their last names. Even from the start the audience recognizes that this is a non-realistic setting wherein an actor is pretending to be someone else. While that is implied in Western theatre, audiences tend to value an actor who can become a character or lose him or herself in the role by acting so earnestly that the audience believes the character is real. In Japanese traditional drama, people have favorite actors, and when they appear in a scene (normally just at their entrance, but sometimes in the first couple of times their onstage), the audience will respectfully shout their name. Some of the actors acknowledged this with a slight nod when they entered which pleased the audience. Much of the staging of the production involved the use of the aisles, and in three instances, the actors actually walked from one aisle to another right across the section where we were seated which caused everyone to laugh and shuffle around in order to avoid being stepped on. At another point, an actor came and sat directly between me and my host brother for nearly a minute while he watched a comical fight scene happening on stage. It was thrilling!
Another highlight of this production was being able to see firsthand the movement of Kabuki players. I had heard that it was special since every move is more of less choreographed, but I had trouble really understanding what that meant. Basically, every gesture, every turn of the head, every step is intentional and meaningful. The actors move at once aggressively and delicately, and it is stunning to watch them. Unsurprisingly, their martial arts are superb, but even these violent scenes are delivered with grace. I have trouble putting into words how much I was moved by this production, but I think most of all I was impressed with the way the actors handled themselves. Every actor has a unique style, which allows them to vary their movement ever so slightly. They also express their style through applying their own stage makeup or kesho.
The last element of this production that struck me was the crew. The set for this production was much more elaborate than a traditional kabuki play. In addition to the revolving set, it included many intricate set pieces, backdrops and even a body of water! The crew members, usually dressed in all black, were like ninjas slinking around the stage to move set pieces or help actors with on-stage quick changes. One crew member's job was to make sure the water seemed real by adding a slight ripple to it now and then and a larger splash when the scene called for it. These were some fit, highly trained, and stealth stagehands, and I was taken aback by how smoothly the production ran thanks to them.
Nakamura-za, the Kabuki company, is performing at the Lincoln Center in New York City next month! It will be their third time performing there having performed in 2004 and 2007. The kabuki that this company generates is sublime, so with all of my might I urge anyone who is in or near New York in July to see them perform. It will be spellbinding and unlike anything you've ever seen before. There will even be an English translation at Lincoln Center which there surely wasn't in Tokyo. (Since seeing a number of shows in Greece two summers ago without English translations, I have become a fan of watching productions in a foreign tongue and gleaning what I can from the actors' expressions, voice, movement, etc, but it is surely nice to be afforded the language, as well!) Here's more information: http://www.lincolncenterfestival.org/current-season/heisei-nakamura-za
And if you're interested in getting a taste of Kabuki, please check out one or both of these short videos:
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