SPAC's "Mugen Noh Othello" at Japan Society in sold-out run

Japan Society, celebrating its 110th anniversary,
and The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival
present Satoshi Miyagi's Mugen Noh Othello.
(photo: Takuma Uchida)

Front left, Micari (Desdemona)
Front right, Maki Honda (Pilgrim from Venice)
with chanters (l-r): Kotoko Kiuchi, Yoneji Ouchi, Asuka Fuse,
Kazunori Abe, Fuyuko Moriyama and Haruyo Suzuki
(photo: Richard Termine)

Mugen Noh Othello

North American premiere

presented by Japan Society (NOH-NOW SERIES, PART IV)

part of The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival

Satoshi Miyagi and his acclaimed Shizuoka Performing Arts Center center and elevate the role of Shakespeare's Desdemona in Othello in Mugen Noh Othello. Seen through the tradition of mugen noh theater, the warrior Othello's wife and victim becomes the potentially disruptive shade trapped between life and definitive death until she can work through her story in front of the living. This crucial process for moving on and finding ultimate rest is, in a real sense, a form of theater as ritual to release her soul. Unlike most otherworldly beings in mugen noh, though, Miyagi's Desdemona is a more humble than formidable figure, appealing to the audience's sympathy.

As the tragic ghost, Micari, silkily, eerily skims the stage on feet we never see, voluminous robes concealing what surely must be casters bearing a body that admits no articulation, drawn forward as if by magnetic force. In her thin, delicate crown, she's a doll, the very model of perfection, but our final sight of her--oh, that parting gesture!--might reveal how much her devastating fate will always define her.

The full-bodied percussive music has power. As kneeling members of the superb chorus, arranged at stage left, chant the story, you will have to scan and stare hard at each mouth to determine the source of each utterance. Supertitles provide English translations, but I bet you'll find it tough to tear your eyes from the stately beauty on stage.

Script: Sukehiro Hirakawa
Original music: Hiroko Tanakawa (arranged by the actors)
Costume design: Kayo Takahashi
Lighting design: Koji Osako

Remaining shows of Mugen No Othello (tonight and Sunday) are sold out. Wait list lineup starts one hour prior to curtain. For information, click here.

Japan Society
333 East 47th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues), Manhattan
(map/directions)

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Kashu-juku Noh Theater at Japan Society

In light of the tragic, still-unfolding events in Japan, the explicit message from Japan Society last evening could not have been clearer: Please focus on the depth, breadth and endurance of our culture.

With sober, subdued elegance, Japan Society presented the New York debut of Kashu-juku Noh Theater, the Kyoto-based troupe now touring North America. These sold-out performances, continuing tonight and tomorrow at 7:30pm, are presented in conjunction with Carnegie Hall's JapanNYC Festival. A useful lecture, starting at 6:30 each evening and free to ticket-holders, traces the history and explores the aesthetics of noh and kyogen--elite, ritualistic theatrical forms rooted in Japan’s medieval warrior age, carefully tended by generations of masters, actors and musicians since the 14th Century. We are also treated to enticements to visit Kyoto.

Kashu-juku, under founder-director Katayama Shingo, has brought us three samples of the tradition:

An excerpt from Yashima: Here Umewaka Naoyoshi performs a famous mai-bayashi (a stripped-down solo in which musicians and chanters accompany a principal actor/dancer who performs mask-less and in a simple costume). A warrior’s ghost remembers a furious battle at sea: “I feel as if I am returning to that time again...the moon shines...light reflecting off the swords...the metallic helmets like stars in the sky...” As if drawing an abstract diagram on the floor, Umewaka advances and retreats, thrusts and withdraws, retracts a trembling gold/green fan and, kneeling, folds it. In an eerie kind of homeopathy, the violence of the ancient events, as replayed in his memory, is distilled to these simple, refined and, yes, ghostly actions set against the harshness of exceptionally spare drum beats, piercing flute notes and vocal whoops.

Boshibari (Tied to a Pole): A fine example of a kyogen, or comic dance, often performed as an interlude between noh acts. If noh represents the rarefied world of gods and aristocracy, the homelier kyogen gets down and dirty into the everyday world. In this piece, a master (Shimada Hiromi) attempts to prevent his servants from stealing his sake by tying them up--one standing with wrists lashed to a long pole; the other kneeling, with his hands restrained behind his back. It’s “a bothersome fix,” as the servants say. However, these two guys--Shigeyama Ippei and Shigeyama Doji--quickly figure out a clever and, yes, increasingly drunken workaround. This becomes quite a rocky dance and, with its outcome, one of the funniest parts of a sweetly amusing performance.

Aoi No Ue (Lady Aoi) draws from the legendary Tale of Genji and deals with Prince Genji’s jealous, vengeful mistress, Lady Rokujo (Katayama Shingo), possessing the being of her rival, the pregnant Lady Aoi (here represented, brilliantly, by a robe ritualistically folded and placed near the edge of the stage). As in the previous pieces, a monitor set to one side of the broad stage renders the Japanese dialogue in English. I was grateful for the translation, although I disliked having to glance away from the action. During Aoi no Ue, I missed most of the dialogue simply because its intense, pregnant stillness mesmerized me--as did the ultimately crucial rasp of prayer beads--and I could rarely avert my eyes.

Kashu-juku Noh Theater is sold out, but it’s worth taking a shot at the waiting list, beginning at 6:30pm at the box office.

Japan Society
333 East 47th Street (between 1st and 2nd Avenues), Manhattan
(directions)

Traditional Japanese theater celebrated

Katayama Shingo (c)Kashu-juku Noh Theater

From March 24-26, Japan Society--in conjunction with Carnegie Hall's JapanNYC Festival--will present the New York debut of Kyoto's Kashu-juku Noh Theater in a special program offering "a rare opportunity to experience the 600-year-old tradition of noh and kyogen performed in one exceptional evening."

Performed in Japanese with English subtitles along with live music, the two-hour program will include:

MAI-BAYASHI: Literally translated as "dance and music," a mai-bayashi is a form of noh theater in which a principal character appears and performs a solo dance without a mask or costume and is accompanied by a group of chanters and musicians. A furious dance depicting the climactic battle scene from the famous noh play Yashima will be presented.

KYOGEN: Boshibari (Tied to a Pole) is one of the most popular plays in the kyogen repertoire. Two servants are tied up by their master in a cunning scheme to keep them from drinking his sake while he is away. They soon thirst for his wine. How will the two obtain their beloved beverage again?

NOH: Aoi no Ue (Lady Aoi). One of the most famous noh plays, Lady Aoi is an adaptation of a chapter from the classic Japanese novel, The Tale of Genji. The story follows Lady Rokujo (the jealous former-mistress of Genji), who sent an evil spirit to possess Genji's wife Lady Aoi, as she is confronted in combat by a Buddhist monk intent on saving her soul.

For complete information on this and related programming, as well as ticketing, click here.

Japan Society
333 East 47th Street, (between 1st and 2nd Avenue), Manhattan
(directions)

Noh Training Project to hold workshop in PA

Joyce S. Lim sent the following interesting announcement:

There is a rare opportunity to study Noh (traditional Japanese drama-dance-music-chanting) in the USA....  Oshima Kinue, the only female professional in the Kita school of Noh, will be teaching a three-week workshop is in Bloomsburg, PA (2-1/2 hours from New York City). 

Noh is a male form, so how the voice and body is used in the female body is really amazing.  If you can't make the 3-weeks, the organizers are sometimes open to people coming for 2 weeks or so.

July 19-August 7
Bloomsburg University, Bloomsburg, PA

Previous experience is not required.

For full details and an application, please visit Noh Training Project.