According to the program, "Kabuki" literally means song, dance and acting and is a combination of all three arts with the main emphasis on the last. Its origins can be traced back to Kyoto at the beginning of the 17th Century.
I can't say I saw much dancing. It was more like posing in amazing costumes. There's also no singing to speak of, just some odd warbling, and sparse dialogue (we all had ear pieces through which we could hear someone explaining in English what was being said or done and why, which is the only reason I didn't fall asleep).
The music was a bit grating, limited to the occasional thunk-thunk of a drum and twa-a-a-a-a-ang-ang of a long-necked, three-stringed instrument called a shamisen. One of the more interesting things to note is that occasionally a member of the audience would shout out an actor's name, like they would at a ball game.
I had higher hopes for the second show, Ichinotani Futaba Gunki, set in the 12th Century during a battle between the Heike and Genji clans, and it was more interesting, I thought, but again, great costumes, beautiful sets, not much action. Even the fight scenes dragged. The actors would draw their swords, hold them high overhead for one long, dramatic pause, then "strike" in one slow sweeping gesture that came nowhere near another person. It took 20 minutes for one character to make the decision to cut another's head off, and when he finally did, the victim rolled to the side, a stagehand covered his head with a cloth and handed a fake head off to the one who had done the decapitating so that he could hold it up by its long black ponytail. Sounds compelling but they managed to suck all the suspense out of it.
The highlight by far was the use of child actors to create the illusion that two main characters were far away, off in the distance, taking care of some business. First the two stars (samurai warriors who were members of the same clan but adversaries nonetheless) took turns (slowly) crossing the stage on "horseback." (The horses were played by two other actors in stockinged feet, the one in the back bent 90 degrees at the waist, as you can imagine, with another in the front, I presume manipulating the head). When the same characters encountered each other later, they were off shore, walking through some waves (rippling blue painted sheets), but now they were being represented by the child actors, in their own horse getups, miniaturized versions of what you had just seen, and the effect actually worked quite well.
While waiting to go in, I said something to the British ladies that I instantly regretted. Without thinking, and just to make conversation, I said something to no one in particular like, "It's so exciting to be going to the thee-ya-tah," because that is how my friend Becky and I would say it when we would meet up to go see a play in New York, you know, with mock pretention. I don't think anybody noticed though. At least I hope not. If they did I hope they don't think I was affecting a British accent to fit in (like Madonna after she moved to London) or that I was making fun of them. (Damn Yank!) I need to remember my audience...
We weren't allowed to take pictures in the theater so we'll have to settle for a shot of the lobby posters. (That's Pippa on the right, whose daughter is in C's class.)
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