Japanese

Drama
Noh Drama
Puppet Play
Kabuki
Noh Drama (Nō Drama)
The national theater of Japan.
In the past, it was a play reserved
for the nobility and the audience
dressed themselves in
ceremonial robes.
Legends says that the Noh has
its origin in the dance and that
this dance was invented by the
gods.
It was developed at around the 14th
century.
The play includes solemn dances intended
to suggest the deepest emotions of the
principal character and were written in the
poetic language of the Japanese classics.
Noh was brought to the level of great art by
the genius of two dramatists, Kan’ami
Kiyotsogu and his son, Zeami Motokiyo.
Noh was patronized by the Ashikaga
Shogunate after saw Zeami perform in
1374.
Zeami developed Noh into refined
aristocratic drama, but after his death it
tended to lose its creative vitality and
become ritualistic.
Many Noh plays performed at present
are by Zeami, and his books of
criticism are considered the final
authority on the subject.
For a short period after the revolution
known as the Meiji Restoration in
1868, Noh was threatened with
extinction because of its connections
with the discredited Shogunate. It
survived the threat, however, and
thereafter enjoyed popularity with
specialized audiences.
A program of Noh also often included
Kyogen, or farces written in colloquial
language.
An entire program of Noh drama
traditionally consists of five Noh plays
in poetry with music and kyogen
farces in prose without music,
performed alternately. Kyogen farces
feature representational acting and
the actors wear neither masks nor
makeup.
Noh plays avoid representational
accuracy in favor of a symbolic
treatment of subjects concerning the
worlds of the living and the dead.
The principal types of Noh plays are
those dealing with deities, the ghosts
of warriors, women with tragic
destinies, mad persons, and devils or
festive spirits.
The actors, who often wear masks
are richly and elaborately costumed.
The Noh drama is performed in a
theater with a roofed-stage. The
audience is seated in two or, less
commonly, three sides of the stage.
The actors reach the stage by a
passageway, called the bridge, which
is marked by three pine trees. The
only backdrop is a large painted pine.
The scenery consists entirely of
impressionistic props suggesting the
outlines of a building, a boat, or any
other objects of importance to the
play.
Only male actors perform in Noh dramas.
When they play the roles of women or of
men whose age is markedly different from
their own, they wear masks, many of which
are exceptionally beautiful.
The Noh drama also includes a chorus that
seats at the one side of the stage and
recites for the actors when they dance, but
the chorus has no identity in the drama.
Full programs are seldom presented any
longer, but kyogen continues to be an
indispensable part of the entire
performance, for it presents the humorous
aspects of life with which Noh is never
concerned.
Puppet Plays
Is very popular.
The puppets are beautifully made and life-
like in size. The strings are expertly
manipulated and the dialogue realistically
interpreted.
The puppet theater combines three
elements:
The puppets
The chanters who sing and declaim for the
puppets
And the players of the shamisen, a three-
stringed instrument who provide the
accompaniment.
The greatest Japanese dramatist,
Chikamatsu Monzaemon, wrote
chiefly for the puppet theater, the
artistic level of which is perhaps
higher in Japan than anywhere else
in the world.
The puppet theater, after attaining its
greatest popularity in the 18th century,
lost in public favor for the Kabuki,
which has continued to be the most
popular dramatic genre.
Kabuki
The play for the masses.
It is less intellectual, more realistic,
even sensational.
By the mid-1980s Kabuki was popular
with American audiences, and
troupes made annual appearances in
the United States.
Kabuki tends to be spectacle rather
than drama.
Original Kabuki texts, as opposed to
those adapted from the puppet
theater, are of lesser importance than
remarkable acting, the music and
dance, and the brilliantly colored
settings.
Kabuki plays are performed in large
theaters, with a hanamichi, or raised
platform, extending from the back of
the theater to the stage.