Finally a non-work-related/Twitter-feed post!
I went for the Noh performance today organised by the Japanese Creative Centre in Singapore, at the National Library's Drama Centre.
They built a Noh stage for it too. Wow, am I impressed.
Noh is a performing art that is considered by many Japanese to be the most difficult to understand. Ancient language of the scripts used, and the highly-controlled and slow, calculated movements of the art are the highlights of Noh. A highly-aesthetic and symbolic form of drama, Noh is almost always performed in a solemn atmosphere, with the elaborate costumes, masks, an almost-bare stage with a single pine-tree embroidered backdrop, giving it the elegance and high-style that is almost always associated with Noh.
Today, we watched Noh that was performed by Mr Sakai Terai, a performer given the status of "Important Tangible Cultural Heritage" in Japan. Together with a fantastic group of performers, they delivered the show tonight with the atmosphere one might find at a real Noh theatre in Japan.
The first act was Kocho, about the story of a butterfly spirit who had lingering regrets about being unable to flitter around the lovely plum blossoms of Kyoto. She meets a monk from Yoshino, who stood outside an old palace to admire the beautiful plum blossoms he has travelled all the way to Kyoto to see. The butterfly spirit then tells the monk of the past events of the castle, and promises to reveal her true form to him in a dream. The monk then meets a villager who informs him that the butterfly spirit was unable to move on due to her lingering regrets for the plum blossoms, and urges the monk to say a prayer of enlightenment for her. Thanks to the monk's prayer of enlightenment, the butterfly spirit was able to move on, and performs a piece of song and dance before disappearing into the spring morning.
The second act was Obagasake, a light-hearted comedy that tells of how a nephew tricks his stingy sake-brewer aunt into giving him sake. He first tries to taste it by telling her he would sell the sake at his village, but as it fails, hilarity ensues as he tells her that his village has chased a demon over to her village. He leaves, and returns with a demon mask at night to scare his aunt and demand sake. The hilariousness is apparent in the way the actors act out the Kyogen - you've got to be there to see it to understand why the then-silent theatre during Noh is now roaring with laughter.
The final act was Shakkyo. About a monk Jakujo, who travelled to many places in Japan, China and India. At China, he vists Mount Shoryo and arrives at a stone bridge, connecting this land to the Pure Land of Manjusri Bodhisattva. As he makes up his mind to cross the bridge, two lions (one white-haired, and one red-haired) who are messengers of Manjusri Bodhisattva appear to him, and dance a celebratory shishi-mai amid the beautiful peony flowers adorning the bridge.
I won't say I've understood the story that the Noh pieces were trying to tell, but I think that the important thing about Noh is that even if you don't understand what the story is trying to tell, don't think too much about it, and just enjoy the majestic paces the art goes through. The fantastic costumes and the music of Noh takes you to a different place, where the beat is different, often unexpected, where the feel is not only translated by the other-wordly chants, but also by the gentle and subtle movements of the performers.
I didn't understand much of it, but I felt awed by the majesty and quiet elegance of the performance.
I felt that the experience could have been better if the kids seated behind us hadn't been sniggering and giggling rather loudly at the performers on stage, but kids will be kids (even if you're in University), and I'm glad they enjoyed the Kyogen. Also, there was a lady in a STUNNING kurotomesode, and now I wished I had the balls to go up to her to ask her for a photo. DANG IT.
And after the performance, dinner at Mos Burger with sensei, Kasho, Ha-chan, Jin Yue and Ryu.
All-in-all, an awesome night.
They built a Noh stage for it too. Wow, am I impressed.
Noh is a performing art that is considered by many Japanese to be the most difficult to understand. Ancient language of the scripts used, and the highly-controlled and slow, calculated movements of the art are the highlights of Noh. A highly-aesthetic and symbolic form of drama, Noh is almost always performed in a solemn atmosphere, with the elaborate costumes, masks, an almost-bare stage with a single pine-tree embroidered backdrop, giving it the elegance and high-style that is almost always associated with Noh.
Today, we watched Noh that was performed by Mr Sakai Terai, a performer given the status of "Important Tangible Cultural Heritage" in Japan. Together with a fantastic group of performers, they delivered the show tonight with the atmosphere one might find at a real Noh theatre in Japan.
The first act was Kocho, about the story of a butterfly spirit who had lingering regrets about being unable to flitter around the lovely plum blossoms of Kyoto. She meets a monk from Yoshino, who stood outside an old palace to admire the beautiful plum blossoms he has travelled all the way to Kyoto to see. The butterfly spirit then tells the monk of the past events of the castle, and promises to reveal her true form to him in a dream. The monk then meets a villager who informs him that the butterfly spirit was unable to move on due to her lingering regrets for the plum blossoms, and urges the monk to say a prayer of enlightenment for her. Thanks to the monk's prayer of enlightenment, the butterfly spirit was able to move on, and performs a piece of song and dance before disappearing into the spring morning.
The second act was Obagasake, a light-hearted comedy that tells of how a nephew tricks his stingy sake-brewer aunt into giving him sake. He first tries to taste it by telling her he would sell the sake at his village, but as it fails, hilarity ensues as he tells her that his village has chased a demon over to her village. He leaves, and returns with a demon mask at night to scare his aunt and demand sake. The hilariousness is apparent in the way the actors act out the Kyogen - you've got to be there to see it to understand why the then-silent theatre during Noh is now roaring with laughter.
The final act was Shakkyo. About a monk Jakujo, who travelled to many places in Japan, China and India. At China, he vists Mount Shoryo and arrives at a stone bridge, connecting this land to the Pure Land of Manjusri Bodhisattva. As he makes up his mind to cross the bridge, two lions (one white-haired, and one red-haired) who are messengers of Manjusri Bodhisattva appear to him, and dance a celebratory shishi-mai amid the beautiful peony flowers adorning the bridge.
I won't say I've understood the story that the Noh pieces were trying to tell, but I think that the important thing about Noh is that even if you don't understand what the story is trying to tell, don't think too much about it, and just enjoy the majestic paces the art goes through. The fantastic costumes and the music of Noh takes you to a different place, where the beat is different, often unexpected, where the feel is not only translated by the other-wordly chants, but also by the gentle and subtle movements of the performers.
I didn't understand much of it, but I felt awed by the majesty and quiet elegance of the performance.
I felt that the experience could have been better if the kids seated behind us hadn't been sniggering and giggling rather loudly at the performers on stage, but kids will be kids (even if you're in University), and I'm glad they enjoyed the Kyogen. Also, there was a lady in a STUNNING kurotomesode, and now I wished I had the balls to go up to her to ask her for a photo. DANG IT.
And after the performance, dinner at Mos Burger with sensei, Kasho, Ha-chan, Jin Yue and Ryu.
All-in-all, an awesome night.