Staging tradition: The Nomura Festival Hall kyogen performance Osaka Festival Hall April 26 2019 “This is the biggest kyogen performance in the world,” declared Mansai Nomura, famed scion of the Nomura family of the Izumi school. It wasn’t a joke: he was introducing the all-kyogen production at the Festival Hall, Osaka. At a capacity of 2700, and towering up three large, circular rings, the Asahi Shinbun owned hall is the well-attended center of Osaka cultural life. It hosts international and local ballet and orchestra companies, including the Osaka Symphony. The audience were dressier, younger, and less chatty than typical kyogen performances: this was a grand event, with tickets accordingly priced towards the 10,000 yen level (not quite the 20,000 yen and up level of the Bologna opera, but airfare for 50 doesn’t compare with bullet-train for 10. Another unusual feature of the production were the careful program notes. In addition to the
an occasional document of theatrical life in Kyoto and the virtual world at the beginning of the 21st century