Last night, I attended an introductory talk on Kabuki which is traditional Japanese theatre. There will be Cinema Kabuki screenings at the TIFF Lightbox next month and The Japan Foundation are presenting three Kabuki Talk + DVD presentations.
The first presentation was an introduction to Kabuki Theatre. The presentation covered four essential elements of Kabuki:
1. Dance
2. Mie (stop motion) and Tsuke (wood clapping)
3. Murder scenes
4. Sewa-mono and Jedai-mono (plays to be taken place in domestic scenes).
Kabuki
The programs presented in Cinema Kabuki have several of these elements. It was an interesting and enjoyable talk. The presenter began with telling us a little bit about Kabuki and some of the traditions involved. For example, all the roles (male and female) are traditionally played by men while roles of children are played by girls. Training to be Kabuki actor begins at a young age and the traditions are passed down from generation to generation. We learned about the different dance styles such as Mai, Obori, and Furi and how they are represented in the theatre along with the other elements. Video clips were shown so that we could see what each element looked like.
The Japan Foundation have two more talks scheduled which are listed below. The talks are free and you can RSVP at The Japan Foundation’s website here.
- Kabuki Talk II: “Love and Murder in Pleasure Quarter”, January 31, 2013, 6:30
- Kabuki Talk III: “In Commenmoration of Kabzaburo XVIII”, February 5, 2013, 6:30
