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Theatre of Yugen's Direction of in English and Kyögen Fusion Plays
Theatre of Yugen's Direction of in English and Kyögen Fusion Plays
Asian Theatre Journal, vol. 24, no. 1 (Spring 2007). © 2007 by University of Hawai‘i Press. All rights reserved.
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Francisco, and San Diego, played to attentive full houses and received
strong applause and favorable reviews. It was this tour that provided us
with the initial encouragement to pursue the development of kyögen in
English.
Kyögen is not as bold and slapstick as most Western comedy, nor
is it as colorful and extroverted as the more familiar kabuki. Rather,
kyögen depicts humor in human predicaments and foibles and it is
truly international and timeless. Its sparse dialog and stylized move-
ment require tremendous actor training and skill to convey emotion,
humor, and grace. Creating this same experience for an English-
speaking audience, with actors who have not trained their entire
careers in this form, has been my challenge. From experience, we have
learned that literal translations and mimicking of kyögen acting style do
not provide quality theatre; rather, modifications of the script, acting,
and staging are required to provide a theatrical experience that will
reward Western audiences with an entertaining kyögen experience.
Zilber and actress Ellen Brooks have now trained and performed with
me for more than fifteen years. They’ve also had opportunities to study
with guest kyögen and nö masters at workshops in our San Francisco
theatre and in Japan. I now feel much more comfortable and confi-
dent with the challenges of performing kyögen in English and creating
new kyögen pieces with them.
Kyögen Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is one of kyögen’s beautiful elements. Even in
English-language kyögen, using the original Japanese provides a sense
of authenticity and tradition that can be easily understood if accom-
panied by expressive mime. I try to remain faithful to authentic Japa-
Figure 1. Helen Mogenrath as Tarö Kaja (left) and Pat Oyama as Jirö Kaja
(right) in Theatre of Yugen’s Sweet Poison. (Photo: Robert Graham)
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Comic Rhythm
In translating dialogue, we have worked to maintain the sense of
comic rhythm. For example, in the scene of stealing the Master’s sake
in Böshibari (Tied to a Pole [sometimes called Tied to a Stick]), the ser-
vant Tarö Kaja goes to get a large, round lacquer box to scoop sake.
The alliteration of the original Japanese, which uses a repetitive “ku”
sound, gives a comic and rhythmic sense. We deviated from a literal
translation to maintain the repetitive comic rhythm by using a repeat-
ing “L” sound. I feel that the life and humor of the plays are more
important than literal exactness.
Theatre of Yugen does not stick with traditional methods, but is broad-
minded in its expression. For example, in one of the most difficult
pieces, Mistress Hanago, I noticed that they treat it as a regular kyögen
play [rather than as one of the ‘three heavy learning pieces’], seem-
ing to focus on expressing the essence of its humor. (Nomura Man-
saku 1991: 164)
Figure 2. Yuriko Doi (foreground) as the Lord, and Hitomi Ikuma as the
Mosquito, in Theatre of Yugen’s Sumö Wrestling with a Mosquito. (Photo: Mar-
ion Gray)
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Dispute, the Izumi School title of Oko Sako [Oko and Sako], translated
in this issue) was not successful in part because it was hard for Amer-
ican audiences to understand the Japanese bitter irony, especially
when a henpecked and cowardly Husband ends by mocking himself.
Mikazuki (Winnowing Love, translated in this issue) and Hachiku renga
(Eight Poetry Links) are also human comedies related to an apprecia-
tion of poetry, but I feel that these kyögen plays are not dramatic
enough for American audiences. It is difficult to translate the nuances
of a poem without extraneous verbal explanation. I would also like to
direct darker kyögen plays with echoes of theatre of the absurd, like
Kawakami (Kawakami Headwaters, translated by Yuriko Doi, Midori
Nohara, and Theatre of Yugen) [also known as Sight Gained and Lost]
or Tsukimi zatö (Moon Viewing Blind Man), but as these plays require a
high level of skill, I have not felt that our actors are ready yet for the
challenge.
Dual-Language Dialogue
As our actors’ kyögen skills improved, we started modifying the
dialogue of the kyögen plays and translating new plays, constantly work-
ing to get closer to the rhythm and nuance of the original kyögen pro-
duction. In this process, we began using Japanese in the script.
I felt that the absurd use of a giant mosquito spirit in Sumo
Wrestling with a Mosquito would be very interesting for American audi-
ences. After learning the play from Ishida Yukio in Tokyo, Libby Zil-
ber, Hitomi Ikuma, and I decided to translate it and use some of the
techniques that seemed to work well in the United States. In our ver-
sion, the Lord speaks some of his lines in Japanese, and Tarö Kaja
later repeats the Lord’s speech in English to the spirit of the Mosquito.
In this way the audience can appreciate the beauty of the original kyö-
gen intonation and modulation. And since they do not understand the
Japanese, they tend to concentrate on the physical expression and into-
nation of both the Lord and Tarö Kaja. By having Tarö Kaja repeat the
lines in English so that no meaning is lost, we create a more demand-
ing bilingual performance for the actors that only works well when they
are already somewhat skilled as performers. Almost as an unexpected
consequence of these experiments, we discovered that de-emphasis
of the linguistic meaning aided actors in their physical expression.
Nomura Mansaku very often said that American audiences respond
much quicker than Japanese at key points in the action. I believe this is
because they cannot understand the Japanese and are carefully watch-
ing the body language, which often communicates in advance of ver-
bal signals. He has stated that acting for our American audiences has
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helped improve his acting by forcing him to pay even greater attention
to his physical movement.
Figure 3. North as the Ogre and Pat Oyama as Jaku in Theatre of Yugen’s
Jaku and the Beanstalk. (Photo: Jock Walker)
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Kyögen plays rely heavily upon the actors to convey the humor
and subtlety through physical movement and the use of timing and
pauses. Most Western plays rely far more heavily on the dialogue. I
have found that most scripts are too descriptive and lengthy to be used
for kyögen without extensive cuts and modifications. This is often time-
consuming and difficult, especially when the writer is unfamiliar with
kyögen and/or cannot attend the rehearsals. In both of our most suc-
cessful fusion productions, Noh Christmas Carol and Crazy Horse, the
playwrights attended rehearsals and radically reduced the dialogue in
their scripts as we learned to simplify the play and to convey the feel-
ing through physical movement of kyögen and nö drama forms.
Conclusion
In my directing I have sometimes broken kyögen rules and con-
ventions in favor of theatricality for American audiences, yet I always
pay attention to kyögen training and to the aesthetics and beauty of the
spirit of kyögen. I strongly believe that instead of passively receiving a
nonstop rush of images, reflective of America’s fast and aggressive TV-
oriented lifestyle, we need to create space to think and develop on our
own. Children especially need to learn to develop their own imagina-
tions with empty space and time. In addition to this, the right rhythm
of communication between audiences and performers is needed to
bring the production to life. The beauty of live theatre is that moment
of connection between actor and audience.
I recently saw the kyögen play Kagyü (The Snail) twice in Japan,
with Nomura Mansai (b. 1966) and Nomura Manzö (IX, formerly
Nomura Ryosuke) in the role of the Mountain Priest. Both times the
ending was different from what I had been taught by Nomura Man-
saku. Their new ending was adapted from the ending of Nomura Mata-
saburö’s style in Nagoya.6 I felt that this change in the ending from the
Master and Tarö Kaja chasing off the pompous Mountain Priest to the
Master cheerfully exiting with a dance to rhythmical music was a bet-
ter fit for modern Japanese audiences. After seeing this I realized that
Japanese kyögen families’ flexible response to contemporary audiences
is similar to what we are doing.
In 2003, Theatre of Yugen presented the Nomura Mansaku
Company’s performance of the unusual, tragic kyögen Kawakami Head-
waters at the Herbst Theatre in San Francisco. Nomura Mansaku
entered to the lonesome sound of a blind man’s bamboo stick hitting
the wooden floor. The “kotsu, kotsu, kotsu” taps resonated through the
entire theatre, creating a stillness and tension in the audience as they
attended every gesture. The Blind Man had come on a pilgrimage to
the deity Jizö, who blessed him with sight. The American audiences
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After the silence, there was a standing ovation; I felt that American
audiences had grown with us in San Francisco.
NOTES
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