Kyoto performance reviews

A tribute to Michishige Udaka 1948-2020 https://www.kyoto-np.co.jp/articles/-/203401 Udaka Michishige was T.T.T.’s first teacher. Rebecca Teele (Ogamo) was his long-term disciple, and received her professional license and name from him just before we met, in 1981. Another disciple, John McAteer, who passed away last week, was my first noh teacher: a chorus member of his shimai dance Shojo . Rebecca was eager to share her skills in mask-making and knowledge of noh with other foreigners; I was similarly interested in setting up a program for myself and others to study noh and kyogen intensively in the summer. After discussions with teachers about the time, proper length, and content, we formed T.T.T. (Traditional theatre training) in 1984. Surprisingly, receiving a Japan Foundation award, we began the program with 16 pioneer students.             Michishigesensei was that rare creature: a superb performer who was also a sensi...

Kiwoong Sung’s Three Sisters’ Foreign Service Kyoto Art Center Feb 22 2020 https://www.kac.or.jp/events/27677/ Adapations of Shakespeare to other periods abound. By re-setting the Venice of Italian renaissance of The Merchant of Venice to a cosmopolitan 18 th c century social whirl, one can select from wonderful options for costumes and sets, but also can maintain the enduring themes of animosity between Christians and Jews, oppression of women, and evils of scrupulous capitalism. At other times, plays in contemporary clothing or language reinvigorate a classic by jarring juxtapositions of antique customs and ethics with the passions and resonant issues of the day—the Mikado set at a seaside spa in 19 th century Britain; Ivo van Hove’s Network , a “mad as hell” cry for help in the present chaotic, media, messianic moment.             At other times, such transplantations can create comic or hideous monsters, obscuring...

--> Not I transl. and dir. by Kimura Yusuke at the Theatre Lumen, Kyoto May 30 2019 http://yusuke-kimura.net/ Samuel Beckett’s Not I is a surreal horror of a one-woman show. A Woman’s mouth only is seen, high above the stage, absurdly higher than if she were standing, framed in spotlight. As the light fades in, the sounds of her gasping, whispering, urgent voice is heard before the lights fade up on the mouth, lips painted brightly, teeth, tongue; even her throat is visible in a kind of red-grey chiaroscuro. She is speaking to herself, a stung creature, like the ox-sister Io in Euripides’ Prometheus . Words spill from her unwanted, a verbal diarrhea, before she thinks them, allowing us to see her forming the words and reacting to them in real time, reversing normal order. Each impulse, each fragment, amended or doubled-back upon, rejected or extended—returns her to a continuous loop, recurring inside her brain but vocalized for us. A silent, lonely woman su...

--> New noh: Dzadi-Forefather’s Eve　 祖霊祭 Spirits of Poland and Korea come to a Japanese temple   file:///Users/jonahsalz/Dropbox/190521-190521p.pdf 　　Leaflet can be seen here This Polish Japanese coproduction could loosely be described as “new noh”, with buyo, noh, and even awaodori summer folk-dance included. Just three actors, accompanied by violin, hurdy-gurdy, Romanian flute, and folk-song told the tale, the musicians and actors performing role of chorus and cheerleader. Two dancers, one Japanese, the other Polish, and a Polish actor made up the cast. The script written by Jacoba Rodowicz-Czechowska featured three acts. The first two drawn from Romantic poet and playwright Adam Mickiewicz’s 19 th century masterwork Forefather’s Eve , Pt. 2 and 4. The last included the climax of the physician/playwright Tada Tomio’s play “A prayer for the grudge.” If I understand the story correctly—there was no summary in the program, and the first two acts were e...