In many ways Aoi No Uye is the most challenging play we’ve read. Still, perhaps we can take the idea of sprits or ghosts coming into our material world as a specific tool for global story-telling. This does seem to be something that occurs in the cultures and theatre we’ve looked at thus far. Yoruba ritual sees the spiritual world as intertwined with this material world. Both the Chinese play Snow in Midsummer and this Noh play use a ghostly encounter to propel the plot or provide the heart of the story’s dramatic conflict.
While we in the Western world do not culturally agree across that board that ghosts are an actual phenomenon, we all love a good ghost story and the idea of a ghost bringing vengeance or retribution to the living is certainly compelling. Shakespeare has used this to great and famous effect. This idea of a spirit returning to compel a person to do something or actually interfere in or adversely affect another’s life is obviously an effective plot device even for those of us who may not believe in ghosts. How could we use this? Maybe this is a red herring on my part. How do various cultures view "ghosts"?
As for the challenging aspect of this play, it is episodic. Similar to Mephisto it is a small story in itself but does not give enough exposition to make an individual audience member feel sympathy for either the non-present Princess Hollycock or Princess Rokujo. The latter seems to have some wrong to avenge but without the background given in the introduction she comes across as just a mere evil spirit with no compelling motivation. The conflict between her and the Saint is obvious but who should we root for? Or should we always root for a protagonist? Does there always need to be a protagonist or antagonist? Can we create a compelling and explorative piece of theatre without these character types?
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2 comments:
I totally believe ghost stories are a universal phenomenon.
If you look at many of our current blockbuster, indy horror/ghost/zombie films and plays. You will find that many of them are based on other stories from foreign countries.
I put zombie movies in this list as many cultures believe of life after death and possession.
Asian ghost films have inspired us to use many of their stories to make them assessable to Americans. Films like "Shutter", "The Ring" and "The Grudge" are just a few.
Spain has a haunting ghost film titled "The Orphanage"
There are many wonderful ghost plays out there, but do they reach the audience as you can in a play. I think a London group has done this.
Here is a short video of a London stage performance of "ghost stories".
We all loved to be scared!
http://boingboing.net/2010/03/24/ghost-stories-london.html
I agree. I think the relationship between the physical and metaphysical world is something that is examined across cultures and around the world. If we are not concerned with where our ancestors go when they die then we are concerned with the energies that affect nature and moods.
I think this examination of the metaphysical is also the heart of art. In industrialized societies we have begun to place a lot of weight in science. What we realize is that as we make discoveries we have also discovered more questions. Our ghost stories allow us to examine and study the unknown.
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