Eastern Theatre

Question 1

Kabuki Theatre

Answer 1

• the form dates from the 17th century
• female dancer, Okuni, danced parodies of Buddhist prayers
• she assembled a troupe of wandering female performers
• because of the sensuous character of the dance and prostitution, the Japanese gov’t banned women from performing in 1629
• young boys dressed as women perofmed but then that got banned bc of issues of morals in 1652
• older men then played the roles, until today
• the people’s theatre (farmers and towns people)
• traditional Japanese theatre
• mime, singing, dancing, movt
• highly stylized
• historic drama
• coarse and unrestrained
• focus on costumes and face paint instead of scenery
• Kabuki derived lots of material from Noh
• actors called onnagata (play female roles) - famous.
• 47 ronins

Famous plays

• The Love Suicides at Amijima (lovers’ double suicide stories
• Battle of Coxinga (long running historical drama)
• The uprooted Pine (historical drama)

Question 2

Noh Theatre

Answer 2

• one of the oldest forms of theatrical forms in the world
• Japanese theatrical form
• “no” means talent or skill
• storytellers who use visual appearance and movement to tell the tale. not like western theatre actors.
• use of scenery and masks
• developed from ancient forms of dance drama at shrines and temples in 12th and 13th century
• performed by professional actors for the elite, warrior class. wishing them long life, peace, and prosperity
• fall of the feudal order threatened Noh.
• Noh plays are short
• Noh program usually have 3 plays
• koyogen, funny sketches, are performed between the plays
• a program can start with an oking, a dance call for peace and prosperity
• 5 types of Noh plays:
  1) Kami (god) plays are about sacred stories of shinto shrines
  2) shura mono (fighting) are about warriors
  3) katsura mono (wig) have female protagonists
  4) gendai mono (present day) are realistic plays and not include things about the supernatural and kyojo mono (madwoman) plays have a protagonist that becomes crazy because of a loss of a child
  5) kiri or kichiku (final or demon) features devils, supernatural things or beasts

Passing Noh down through generations:

1) preservation of texts
2) innovation

recitation of (utai) is one of the most important parts in Noh.

Question 3

Beijing Opera

Answer 3

• Chinese theatrical form
• developed in mid-19th century
• has elements of huidiao, dandiao, and kungu (popular traditional opera since 16th C)
• musical verse plays
• sung mostly in mandarin
• highly conventionalized
• characters’ attitude are encoded in postures, arm movts, steps.
• face paint gives info about who the character is
• acrobatic mov’t shows fight scenes and violence
• accompanied by small orchestra (stringed and wind instruments, clappers, and drum)
• interlude narration gives singers a chance to rest for long performances
• all-male cast
• late 20th C allowed females
• Mei Lanfang introduced the West to beijing opera with his international tour
• high falsetto tone