| japan architect SEPTEMBER 1962ze a theater used "pent Adopting ahs i ach, the author discusses i ie Appr Ome of the Kabuki stage and i scope ate, at well a8 ther mec ne Kaba tl). 1 il iia al | the stage devices Cmployed in modern theater building seere di date. prisingly early covered at a surprising Development of the Kabuki Theater 2 ‘The largest theater dedicated to the presentation of the Kabuki today is the Kabukiza in downtown Tokyo. A rassive build 12 in « combination of Western (interior) and Japanese (exterior) styles, it has an audience capacity of 260 ge that is capable of a wide variety of ticks and special effects. Despite frequent lamentations fn the decline of the Kabuki, the Kabuki-za manages to remain full for almost every performance—a feat all the tore remarkable because the performances last around five hours each. Japanese sig and a st ts arriving in Tokyo from the country usualy include a trip to the Kabukiza among their “musty” and the theater js_ pos rigueur for visitors from abroad, though th ‘lten mystified by the performances treed at their en Unlike the le they see and dis. imate theater in Europe and Amertto, Toshio Kenarake the Kabuki tends to rely more upon visual and emotions) effects than upon plot development. New pla ‘ed occasionally, but the best-loved dram are pres are those th have been passed down from the Edo period (1600-1268) and every Kabuki afficianado knows the plots of these by heart. Performane exceedingly stylized. ‘The aco (there are no actresses) are clothed in garments of the ast, often very elaborate, and their faces ate made up with outrageous exaggeration, cle, and if a particularly lav which always tends to be slow by Western standard ‘The emphasis is on specs saPt to come to a dead halt for thirty minutes while ato fon their three-stringed som and the audience drinks in the colors, In traditions ply* every tiny movement has long ously fixed and the actors are praised primarily for the zest or fines declaim, musicians nce been