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Show J I Tlie Theater in Japan 1 1 ----:------.-- I?V FREDERIC J. H ASK IX - - While i he .Ta panose stage lias not 5 responded to tho influence of mofleni civilization as promptly as the newspa-imall newspa-imall T'"rs an(1 schools. ;l loan ins toward Western dramatic ideals is beginning lltTU: tn show irself. Tokio audiences have Kl," wePfc ,0V01' t,u' woes of Cnmillo. and now "Uiele Tom's Cabin" has made its npppal to Oriental sympathy. An clnb-j clnb-j orato production of "The iMerehanl of iek'j eniee,, with European costumes, has nlv I 0011 K,ven 'iu the .Japanese tongue at. i 'm oi ,hc 'heaters in Yokohama. (jOOri homestead," as plaved at. a 3 tokio park, would doubtless give Ir. and J'iiman Thompson a grout, shook if tliat venerable actor could see the Eastern East-ern version of his great play, tt'he introduction of modern ideas lias di-luanR di-luanR vided the Japanese stage into two x-Mtc schools, one of which clings to the MWl old classical style of phi and manner lorf? production, the other striking out UJ independently for the adoption of up-ho" up-ho" t date methods. The task of elevating the stage 111 the East is no small un-n un-n ;& derlaking because of the low standing or!? t tho actor?- While the best, classes in Japan patronize the theater, the men lQTf in the profession havo heretofore been rated so low sociallv that, thev were aM regarded as little better than outlaws, innfl 1 :,'.I0r ,:o t,,P Restoration there v.-ere l- onlv three licensed theaters in Tokro. notfl 0n'.v 'wo lcn have ever risen hi Hi ..m enough iu the profession to have the ,.,on?1" o lIf.ving before the imperial " tnl J;im,ty"' Those were Danjuro, the great-: great-: est dramatic genius Japan has pro-DAY pro-DAY 'luoed. and his gifted pupil, Kikngoro, tf hoth oC whom arc dead. A is only Sell, recently that women were allowed to J appear on tlie stage m this count w. two daughters of the great Danjuro being be-ing among the first to enter the lists. Jt js hoped that these voung ladies have, inherited enough of their distinguished ty?1 enis to keep alive the luster of his lame. While Japan has no histrionic his-trionic stars at the present lime who can ineasure up to the standards of Danjuro and Kikugoro. there are sonic promising aspirants in the new school, particularly Jlawakami and Sadn Yac-op. Yac-op. who have played in Europe and the I nitcd States. , To an American tlio Japanese theater is a show in more ways than one. Instead In-stead of checking his overcoat or umbrella, um-brella, the potion leaves his shoes in . the lover. Jn one way he gets more for his money than in the United States, because the play begins about noon and lasts until 10 or 11 o'clock at night. The interior of tin; plnvhouse is lined with refreshment, stands and restaurants, restau-rants, so that ail kinds of food ami drink are served to (he spectators in their scats. The neighborhood abounds in teahouses, and the easiest way to arrange a theater party is to give an I advance order to the proprietor of one of these places. Like the ticket speculators specu-lators in America, the teahouse owners i control the choicest seats, which fact I enables them to handle a large volume of the business. They arrange all de- i tails, even to having their attendants I enter the theater and wait upon their patrons. There are no chairs in the theater, the spectators in the main por- j fion of the building squatting upon mats. The gallery gods stand up and peer through rows of vertical bare. As the mob in the peanut heaven presses) against the wooden slats that divide it. from the more select portion of the audience, it reminds one of a lot of convicts herded together in a big cell. The admission to tin"? pen amounts to about 2 cents an act. hardly enough it ( would seem to pay for keeping it clean, i if The stage is constructed in the fashion fash-ion of a turntable, so that instead of ! raising or lowering curtains, as iu our j playhouses, the whole thing revolves. While one scene is toward the audience j another is being arranged in the rear. The platform is on rollers, and as ono scene disappears with much shaking and squeaking its successor comes into view, the actors meanwhile standing in their places as rigid as statutes. The actors frequently make t heir-entrances and oxits from" the front of the building, rather than from the wings. To facilitate this arrangement there a.re elevated walkways extending to the. foyer, similar to those which our magicians ma-gicians sometimes use to get near their audiences. It is only recently that a regular sj'Stem of lighting the playhouses play-houses came into vogue. Formerly a cowled "super" hovered around tho actor, holding a torch near bis face, so that the fine play of emotion in his countenance would not be lost to the spectators. This "super" had to know bis cues perfectly, or take the dangerous dan-gerous risk of setting fire to the false board of the star. Jt is an unwritten law of the .Japanese stage that any as- 1 sistant starting such a conflagration j shall end his professional career on the ! spot. j Under the old Tegime Japanese ac-; ac-; tors had several sources of reveuuc un-' un-' known to their American follow cral'ts-j cral'ts-j men. When the spectators became ex-' ex-' cited they threw their hats, belts, pipes, I and even their coats on the stage. This . did not mean that tho performer was to keep these articles as souvenirs. i They wore a pledge of appreciation of a far more substantial character. The valet of the celebrity soon appeared ' and returned each article to its owner, j collecting in lieu thereof a cash sum j for the benefit of the actor. For ex-I ex-I ample. Danjuro, the Joseph Jefferson I of Japan, used to collect five dollars I for every good looking hat that was I thrown to him. This hat. throwing is I seen at. Spanish bull fights, but. there I the matador makes no charge. Lie merely selects one. hat from tho lot, rests it on his head for an instant, then throws it. aside and proceeds with his work. Tho Japanese stars of the old school also made .a fixed charge for the privilege of visiting them in their dressing rooms. Those who paid the price were presented with an autograph, some little gift, or if the actor was especially es-pecially impressed with liis visitor, he might delay the performance long enough to serve tea. The Japanese stage manager of the old school left, not lung to the imagination imagina-tion or memory of the spectators For instance, take a scene from one of the hoary and time-honored classics of Nippon. Nip-pon. An old man is making love to a young girl. He is too old and decrepit to make an acceptable suitor, but the ' girl knows that he has great in f hit once with her father. Therefore, while , she desires to repulse him. she must do so cautiously. All of this has been 1 brought out in the foregoing acts. But j when' the actual love making scene is reached the play is as hard totofollow as a three ringed circus. The old man ; is pouring out his plea of passion to . the girl, the orchestra is playing an . accompaniment for his lines, atid in the I wings two old men chanting an explan- ! ation of why she doesn't give the old codger -his walking papers on the instant. in-stant. .. I That peculiar Oriental -stoicism which I keeps men and women from showing any emotion of either joy or sorrow operates only when personal fortunes j arc concerned, and not when others are involved. The man who would bear the burdens of Job without; changing his face, is ready to weep at tho slightest slight-est misfortune which befalls another, while a woman whoso immobile countenance coun-tenance would not bet raj- her enjoyment enjoy-ment of th.e sweets of ' heaven, will laugh like a child at some other person's per-son's ha"i)iness. So it is that a Japanese Japa-nese theater audience is an instrument upon which even the mediocre actor" may play at will. It is as responsive as an organ, and rarely produces discord. dis-cord. One may enter a Tokio theater, and find a thousand men and women splitting their sides with laughter, and two minutes later every man and woman in the audience -will be prostrated pros-trated on the mats, weeping as if their hearts would break. The Japanese actor ac-tor never has the handicap of an unsympathetic un-sympathetic audience. Tho professional story toller ranks next to the actor as hu entertainer in Japan. 1T gives his performance in rooms smaller than the theater, and al-. though his long-winded varus deal with many topics, they cost his hearers but a few coppers. An idea of what appeals ap-peals to tho Japanese sense of humor may be obtained from the following tale bv a famous Tokio storv-teller. lie said there was once an old "'miser who had a great deal of money, a fondness for good things to eat. and a wonderful wonder-ful imagination. IJe lived over a restaurant res-taurant which had the reputation of serving the finest eels in the citv, eels and rice being the great Japanese delicacy. deli-cacy. As tho epicures assembled each day in the eating house the appetizing odor of frying eels filled tho rooms above. The imagination of the miser was so potent that when the savory smell filled his nostrils, he could sit down to his meal of plain food with keenest relish. When the owner of the restaurant found this out, he forthwith presented a bill. Whereupon the stingy tenant produced his money bag, jingled the coins in it, then returned it to his pocket. When asked to explain, be replied: "You have charged mo for the smell of your eels and I havo paid you with the sound of my money. " w y tt The most popular story-teller in Japan at present is a man kiiown to his audiences as Ishii, but his real name is Black. Ho is the son of an Englishman I j who started tho first newspaper in Japan. His knowledge of the vaiying dialects is so perfect, his dress so accurate, ac-curate, and his manner so natural that few of his hearers-suspect that he is . a foreigner. t j Tho Japanese people are so" fond of i the theater that it can be made a (re-I (re-I mendous educating influence if the movement to modernize it succeeds. If tho old classical plays, dealing with tho dry dust of ancient history, can bo done away with, and modem subjects treated in tlieir stead, muck useful present-day information may be quickly imparted to the masses; During the recent boycott boy-cott on American goods in China, one of the most effective ways of reaching tho people, with the propaganda was through the medium of the actors and stor3'-tellers. Nov,- it is said 'that through tho sauio channel even the coolies on the border of far-off Thibet jjH have heard about tho coming of tho (jH American fleet to the Pacific. jH (Copyright, IPOS. t by Frederic . .T. Tomorrow: Japanese Labor Troubles. |