Going to debuts of the "graduation piece" of slithering demonwoman Dojoji by Kongo school's Dec 11th (Udaka Norishige) and Kanze Shite program Dec 17th (Kawamura Kotarou), I was struck by how my enjoyment was coupled with and somewhat tempered by my memories of the performers. Although I have a particularly broad and long relationship with Kyoto noh and kyogen performers, perhaps every long-term fan has similar layered spectator feelings that have been little written about. Marvin Carlson hinted at a Shakespearean version with Haunted Stages, and noh stories, but as to strata of fandom?
And what are we watching? The great warrior Yoshitsune looking back at HIS life, and the moment of bravery retrieving a fallen bow. Or a love-crazed maiden disguised as shirabyoshi dancer revealing her demon-snake while priests recall the story of the priest burned to a crisp beneath the bell by a grudge-filled snake. We are reminded of our relationships over time with the performers while what THEM reenact characters' reflectons on THEIR lives. And perhaps the performers are thinking, "Ah, I sang for his grandfather once..."
I had known both the actors' fathers: Udaka Michishige was the great noh master who taught many of the foreign licensed pros, including Rebecca Ogamo, Monique Arnaud, and Diego Pellecchia, who sang boldly in the chorus without a hitch (hiccup?). Michishigesensei had taught TTT for three years before continuing as INI master. Nobushige's brother Tatsushige has taught live and zoomed-in lecture-demonstrations for my students. And in the chorus and tense in the stage assistant spot were many of the actors who had gone to Montreal, Toronto, and New York on performances I tour managed back when I was a grad student, 1985.
Nobushige Kawamura had been involved in new noh projects with my friend and his disciple Masae Suzuki, and we had gotten to know each other when he was teaching one year in Bielefeld as part of Eugenio Barba's ISTA program, along with ten year old Kotaro. But also in the performances were the kygoen Shigeyamas, of course, Genjiro Okura and Masaru Kawamura, two of the drummers in early Noho Theatare shows, from At the Hawk's Well (1981-) I directed. Singing in the chorus was Mikata Shizuka, who I had taken an intensive course ("you don't have to wear a mask in Shojo--your face is demonlike enough"), and directed in Beckett's Rockabye once (amendment: he insisted that as it was a noh stage, I was only responsible for narration; he would take care of his own set (a "rocker" created out of bamboo and wrapped in white gauze bandage, a la other noh props, costume, and mask. Last time I ever asked him to be in anything;)). And T.T.T. teachers severe Urata Yasuchika, the peerless form of Katayama Shingo, with Tamoisensei tense on rope duties.
So thank you, Kyoto noh performers (and Arts for the Future, which means Arts in December before the money runs out!) for this feast of bell-clanging Dojoji's, and for providing a "this is your life" parade of memories (although it did at times was distracting to think, "how he's aged", or "he's much more dignified than at 25." And of course watching Norishige and Kotaro blossom into full-fledged noh performers is one of the enduring pleasures of being in Kyoto for decades. (I have seen 5 generations of Shigeyama performers in the same roles in my 40 years observing...)
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