For those of you who know that great puppeteers are students of all
theatre forms:
Cal Performances announces a Grand Kabuki Lecture Demonstration.
Lecture / Demonstration
By Living National Treasure Nakamura Ganjiro III
of Japan's Grand Kabuki Chikamatsu-za
Wednesday, June 15, 6:30-8:00 p.m., Hertz Hall, UC Berkeley
Free and open to the public
Kabuki, the art of theatrical exploration into human passions and flaws, has been performed exclusively by men for more than 300 years. Male actors play all roles, including women characters, or onnagata.
Grand Master of the kamigata style of Kabuki, Nakamura Ganjiro III, who has played the female lead in Sonezaku Shinju ("Love Suicides at Sonezaki") for over 50 years and who has been designated a Living National Treasure, will talk about the history and forms of Kabuki Theatre. The lecture will be illustrated on stage by his apprentice, Nakamura Gankyo, who will be transformed into a beautiful woman through the application of full traditional make-up and costume, and will then demonstrate the theatrical conventions of the Kabuki female character role.
Co-sponsored by Cal Performances, The Consulate General of Japan in San Francisco, UC Berkeley's Institute of East Asian Studies, and the
Department of Music in conjunction with the performances of Japan's
Shochiku Grand Kabuki Chikamatsu-za, Friday-Saturday, June 17-18, 2005 at Zellerbach Hall. Check Cal Performances to see if there is an
additional lecture date.
The lecture is free, but tickets to the performances are expensive. However this is a unique opportunity. Price: $40/$65/$90/$125
(hanamichi runway seating)
Since I am leery of recommending anything after the fiasco of The National Black Light Theatre I didn't pass on the word about this past week's performances of another Japanese Theatre form - the ancient comic and stylized Kyogen. This production was a loose adaptation of Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors. It was given at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco and was delightful. Dialogue in Japanese with English supertitles. Wonderful physical comedy. The company has appeared at a number of international theatre festivals. There was much to be learned about stage craft, stage movement and farce from "Kyogen of Errors". I found out about it as a member of the Asian Art Museum.
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