The goal of this class is to make us global theatre practitioners. One the best ways we can do this is by performing of producing plays from other cultures. The question that always has to be asked before a project is started is; who can perform this play? For today’s class we read Kanjincho. The question I ask is how would this play read if it was done by a typical American university?
This university, like most in the twenty-first century, prides itself on diversity. So it is very practical that in an effort to expand its ideas of theatre, said universities would want to produce, for example, a Kabuki play. We can assume that the university will have the means and money to acquire the sets, costumes, and properties to produce a Kabuki play, but would they have tradition? What I mean when I ask this question is even though an American university has the means to produce a Kabuki play does it have the same effect when the actors and design team are not trained in Kabuki like the Japanese traditionally are?
These questions bombarded my mind as I read this play because I worked make-up crew for a Kabuki play at Western Illinois University while completing my undergraduate degree. There were a number of things that I noticed about Kanjincho that I did not see in Samurai( WIU’s kabuki production).
The differences that stand out are the movement of the actors, the set, the chorus, and the ritual in starting the play. The stage directions take the reader through the ritual done by the orchestra and stage manager to signal the beginning of the play. Wiu’s production did not have this. The very precise movement of the actors was lost and it has to be assumed because they did not have the proper training. There was not chorus or orchestra which tells me that the director cut them. And lastly the set lacked the curtains and other Kabuki elements established by Kanjincho.
It may not be fair to take one random university and use it to define how any other university would approach Kabuki, but why not? American theatre programs have differences that range from subtle to drastic but are all victims of the westernized we and thinking and approaching theatre. When it comes to Kabuki in the American university, maybe it should be studied more and performed less.
2 comments:
Gary closed this response with a profound statement that I reflect on whenever I hear American theatre artist talk about performing traditional art forms from other countries. In theory, it sounds wonderful. It conveys an image of being open and receptive to all cultures traditions. It displays an interest into researching and making connections between the western perspective of performance and others. The main roadblock with this mindset is leaving out the spiritual component of these practices. Many times they are not creating art for art sake. They have sacred practices, beliefs and rituals that are integrated into their everyday life. I find it very bold and somewhat inconsiderate for people to think that you can perform some of these works and someway ignore or leave out what the practices mean to the culture of people that it evolved from.
The training, attention to detail and discipline seen in kabuki or a Noh performance can not be duplicated in the states. Many try, however I hope they are mindful of these things and find a way of not embarasing themselves from creating caricatures and surface, shallow representations of cultures expression meant to express much more than a show for an audience.
I actually agree with this Jackie despite my rather liberal stance on other cultures being able to perform other non-indigenous works. I the question becomes whether or not the performances are religious in nature. The play that Gary was speaking of Kanjincho wasn’t religious if I recall merely highly stylized and highly entrenched in tradition. The problem here is something I think that Gary hit upon. The theatres here in America lack the training to do the physically demanding work required by an art form such as Kabuki. It’s not so much a matter of tradition as it is a matter of not being capable of doing the art form justice and thereby defacing an ancient art form.
Now to move on and respond directly to one of the ideas that Gary initially wrote, I wanted to approach the idea of Universities in their continuing quest to diversify attempt to stage shows that are not necessarily western in origin. This is something that the African American Theatre Program always does that used to make me raise my eyebrow. The Orphan of Chao is a Chinese play, why is the African American Theatre Program staging it? Have we run out of African American plays? Then I thought to myself “In the interest of a world that will someday truly be a global community we need branch out in the plays that we produce.” I loved reading Kanjincho and would love to see a Kabuki performed. I, a white Anglo-Saxon boy found the character of Benkei to be engaging and hilarious at times. He reminded me strongly of the clown characters from Comedia. But at the same time I found him to strong and honorable something you don’t see in your average trickster character. These are characters that are engaging to all walks of life.
I don’t believe that theatre for white people by white people is appropriate or fair. So if I believe that, then I must believe that there should not be a theatre for black people by black people. If we are truly living in a Global Theatre then there should be no exclusions when it comes to the theatrical works that are being produced. This is as long as we have satisfied the requirements of respect to training and cultural significance. We must give this work its due respect.
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