A cypress stage for Kyogen artists living in the 21st century
Vol.11 “The Heart Of KYOGEN” in USA
Ozo doctrine (Noh performer Kyogen style Ozo school)
Walk briskly.
He put his hands in his pockets and walked with steady strides.
It's twice as fast as usual or even faster. He is a resident of this town and walks around as if this is his daily life.
Everyone on the street is walking fast. Cross even at red lights. Cars honk without hesitation. The sound echoes well between the skyscrapers. Their skin and hair colors also vary.
Just walking is too busy. This is New York.
As stores and companies change rapidly with the times, how will New Yorkers perceive The Heart of KYOGEN, a Kyogen performance that has inherited a 650-year tradition?
During his five-day stay in the United States, he held workshops at educational institutions such as New York University, Princeton University, and Keio Academy of New York, and on the final day he traveled to Washington, D.C., to hold workshops at educational institutions such as George Washington University. This performance will be held at a theater called "BRUNO WALTER AUDITORIUM" in New York.
The contents are as follows.
As soon as the performance begins, a Kyogen performer appears, saying, ``Hurry, hurry!'' and begins, ``We're rushing to New York now.'' Another Kyogen performer also appears and the two of them walk through the streets of New York, shouting, "Hurry, hurry!" Along the way, he says, ``Who is that big woman?'' ``That's the Statue of Liberty,'' and introduces famous places, such as ``What's that tall tower?'' ``This is the Empire State Building.'' While doing so, they said, ``No, I arrived at 〇〇 (venue name) before I could say anything,'' ``Let's open the door to the venue,'' and ``Rattle rattle~ (sound of the door opening)'' as they arrived at the venue. It started with the intro. Although it is not a production produced in Japan, it was specially made for overseas use. This alone made the customers laugh with joy. Of course, it has subtitles.
Our method is to give a lecture before the performance.
In Kyogen, the background never changes and the actors express everything through their words and actions, without relying on sound or lighting. We included a performance here and made it a quiz format where you had to guess the movements of the actors. Some of the items were difficult to guess, but the customers had fun while racking their brains.
We also introduce the ``men'' that are also featured in the flyer.
In addition to gods and spirits, Kyogen masks are also used to portray animals, but everyone was surprised to hear that this mask was the spirit of a mosquito. This reaction was the same in Japan, but the interpreter seemed surprised and kept asking us, "Really?"
Although it was only a little, I had some experience. I was happy to see them actively trying out both the stance and vocalizations of Kyogen. I think this is an expression of the national character of wanting to deepen understanding through physical experience and experience. There were times when I had to give a little service due to the high participation rate...
The performances are ``Neonkyoku'' and ``Fushi.'' Both are easy to understand and are also popular in Japan.
Subtitles are now the norm for overseas performances. We have been working with the organizer, Noh Society, for nearly five years. If the subtitles are not pressed at the right time, there will be a time lag between the performance and the audience's laughter, so we discussed and rehearsed in detail how to compensate for this. Thanks to this, the stress I had been feeling was relieved and I was able to perform on stage with great comfort.
After the performance, we had a chance to have a reception with the staff, and it was a great opportunity to talk about various things.
Should you focus on lectures or performances? I would like to make it performance-only if possible, but wouldn't it be better to include lectures to deepen understanding? What is our style and what do we really want to convey? A heated discussion ensued. Based on this discussion, I would like to present an even more powerful performance next time.
Customers are of various age groups. Some children are fluent in Japanese. Some of them were students from Columbia University. If you ask me, I heard that he is interested in studying Japanese classical literature and medieval culture. I was surprised that he was so knowledgeable about areas that even we cannot easily get into.
Japan is a country with a long history and diverse culture. That's why I feel like I learned that not only manga and cosplay, but each era has its own diverse appeal.
