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Show 1 The average TV sitcom lasts 30 minutes, with a commercial break after 11. This does not do much to prepare audiences for that three-houhighly theatrical production of Hamlet they're supposed to enjoy. It does, however, make the hour-lonhighly visceral plays of the Japanese theatre tradition much more accessible and relevant. Not that the plays aren't accessible and relevant on their own. Across the country, the interest in the highly Eastern forms of theatre is growtheatrical, The allow Western theatre and actors an added ing. plays on not their art, but on their world. perspective, only in the Early morning Performing Arts Building, University of Utah theatre professor Jerry Gardner leads his class through a series of warm-uexercises. He makes jokes about politics and discusses the ancient Japanese tradition of the warrioractor. It's halfway through the first semester of the Eastern Theatre Arts, a class designed to give a background in the history and basics of Eastern (this semester, Japanese) theatre. By all accounts, the class is successful. "You get to experience several learning styles," Gardner said not only movement and acting, but a historical context as well. Today the class studies the movements of Kyogen. There is a difference, he says, between the movements of Kyogen and that of another, more dramatic form, Noh. His feet glide smoothly along the floor as he discusses the difference in gestures foot motion stays the same, but the gestures of Kyogen are far broader, more comir, g, non-realist- p cal. The class divides into groups to perform a scene involving two servants and a master. Someone bangs a drum as the students take their places and read the for dialogue. While the master moves in the dignified Noh style, the servants skitter along to a staccato beat, bowing their heads in submission and running into each other in their rush to please their master. It's an sort of physical comedy, a stark contrast to the master, who seems to take an eternity to mal-soundi- -- over-the-to- p cross the room. much of Japanese theatre may seem a bit to Western audiences that are and used to realism. Japanese theatre uses masks, puppets, drums, stylized motions and overlapping dialogue in its drama. Noh and Kyogen plays are frequently about mythology, ghosts and demons. Going to the theatre in Japan can mean four or five hours of Noh drama, interspersed with bits of Kyogen comedy to lighten the In fact, over-the-to- slow-pace- d fast-pace- d mood. But the theatre may be more accessible than you first think. Richard Scharine, who provides the historical perspective, draws parallels between Noh and Kyogen and Western forms. "The Noh is parodied in the Kyogen," he said. It's a form of cultural stress release; both the Catholic religion and the world of Ancient Greece had similar forms. In addition to the Noh and Kyogen, the class covers Kabuki and Bunraku. If Noh and Kyogen came out of the aristocracy and warrior classes, then Kabuki is the drama of the common people. It came out of the streets and deals in things like merchants and courtesans, "almost like the soap operas...a more domesticated form of drama," Scharine said. Bunraku, the puppet theatre cre(not your childhood puppets, but dramatic, ations) encompasses all of its counterparts. p And then there's the matter of Butoh. It's nowhere to be found on the syllabus, but if you talk to Gardner and fellow professor Glen Brown (who also teaches the class) about Eastern theatre long enough, they will talk about Butoh. Even though they don't formally teach it, it's very much included in their instruction of everything else. "It's what we do," Brown said with a shrug. But Butoh is a different story, one that could take up an entire class by itself. As for the rest of Japanese theatre, it's very much a reflection of Japanese cultural history, Scharine said. Kyogen and Noh completed their repertoire about 600 years ago, meaning traditional, modern actors perform essentially the same things their counterparts did half a millennium ago. This says a great deal about the Japanese, he continued, about the importance of tradition and group discipline in their culture. You can see the centuries of tradition in the highly stylized movements of the actors. All of the Japanese theatre studied in the classes uses the mastery of the form as a means to create. The study of the movements gives the actor a form to work within, and the structure of that is where the creativity comes from. "There's freedom in the specificity of it. Many things happen in the space of nothingness," Gardner said. Even the relatively young Butoh plays with this idea. "The purpose of Butoh is to strip you bare, get you into a meditative state," said Alyssum Hutson, a junior in the Actor Training Program who performed in last year's production of "Butoh MacBeth" and has studied with Botoh masters. In Butoh, actors create a dance based " full-size- d see theatre, page RED Magazine R12 march 6, 2003 Rj |