Japanese modern theater has gone through several changes during the years. From the early attempts of 1870 to reform the Kabuki, which resulted in the new form of shin-kabuki to the creation in the 1960s of shugekijo undo (Little theatre movement). One of the individuals that made an impact in Japanese modern theater is Betsuyaku Minoru. The following essay would be talking about Betsuyaku and his contribution to modern theater in Japan.
In the Japanese state of Manchukuo on April 6, 1937 Betsuyaku Minoru was born. In 1945 his father who worked for the Information Bureau of the General Affairs Agency, died of tuberculosis. After his fathers death Betsuyaku mother attempts to remove him and his siblings away from Manchuria were useless due to the Soviet invasion and subsequent occupation, Betsuyaku and his family were finally deported in 1946. Betsuyaku’s early years were very unstabled and ucertain. After being deported from occupied territory, Betsuyaku and his family moved around a lot from Kochi, to Shimizu, and then Nagano City this was do to the fact that Betsuyaku mother was struggling to maintain a job to support all of them. His mom finally gain some stability for the family by getting a job opporating a small restaurant cart.61 As soon as Betsuyaku graduated high school, his family moved to tokyo where he enrolled in 1958 at Waseda University in the department of Political Science and Economics. After quickly becoming involved with the Waseda University's Free Stage, where he met Suzuki Tadashi, who would later set up a hard method for actor training. Which at this time, Betsuyaku was strongly involved with the anti-security treaty and was part of “the Free Stage contingent of the Zengakuren…in March 1961, during th...
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... of feeling and experience has to be attempted on a more basic level, the pre- or sub-verbal level of elementary human experience.”81
Works Cited
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In the history of civilization, there have been many different types of theatre. There is Greek theatre and Elizabethan theater. Some are musicals, some are comedies and some are tragedies. Some types employ realistic techniques while others are more avant-gardes. But one type stands out among the rest, and that is Kabuki theatre. This classical Japanese style of dance and drama is not just theatre. It is a beautiful form of art, which has been carefully crafted over many centuries.
The Noh drama: ten plays from the Japanese selected and translated by the special Noh Committee, Japanese Classics translation Committee, Nippon Gakujutsu Shinkōkai. --. Rutland, Vt.: C. E. Tuttle Co., 19821955. Print.
There are many important aspects of theatre history. Important playwrights, actors, theatres, and events that impacted theatre in major ways. In this paper I am going to discuss the life of an important actor who would be better known for his last name and the actions of his brother. By looking into his life I have learned how interesting of an actor he was and what significance he had on theatre history. This actor is Edwin Booth.
Brazell, Karen. Traditional Japanese Theater: An Anthology of Plays. New York: Columbia UP, 1998. Print.
Shirane, Harue, and Tomi Suzuki. Inventing the Classics: Modernity, National Identiy, and Japanese Literature. Stanford: Stanford Univ. Press, 2000. eBook.
I believe that universally, theater is the concentration of passing down history, whether factual or mythical, to future generations paired with various degrees of artistic dignity. Like many other staged performances, the root of Noh is based off of a storytelling tradition, enhanced or exaggerated to be viewed by a wider audience. In the end, it was supposed to be somewhat entertaining, the viewer perhaps receiving a more dramatic interpretation of a past tale accompanied by dance, music, and visuals. In general, another characteristic not as significant from the original literatures and stories that seeps its way into Noh are the religious undertones and shrinking the distance between the world of the living and the world of spirits. In Zeami’s Atsumori, the play concerns characters from a scene in a probably already overdramatic depiction in Heike Monogatari, bringing in a single frame from Japanese military history into a different context. Sumidagawa has a slightly different way of coming into existence, since it does not depend so heavily on an exact picture from Ise Monogatari, and is only loosely associated with it. Nevertheless, both Atsumori and Sumidagawa have interesting ties to literature from earlier periods that make each unique in their presentation.
Gaskin, Carol. and Hawkins, Vince. The Ways of the Samurai. New York: Byron Preiss Visual
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Japan is known for its unique gardening style, their diverse plants, their food, and their beautifully woven tapestries. Yet, most do not know about the history of their drama. Japanese Noh theatre is one of the most precise and prestigious art forms. It has been this way since the fourteenth century when Zeami first created Noh theatre. Zeami’s most famous plays, such as Kinuta, are still performed today. Japanese drama has not changed much since the fourteenth century because it has made a lasting effect on the culture. Noh theatre had a major influence on fourteenth century Japan and has affected modern day drama.
Russell Brown, J. 1995. The Oxford Illustrated History of the Theatre. 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
With Kabuki as the main form of theatrical entertainment for commoners, there was an outburst of creativity. During this period the styl...
A mere mention of the term theatre acts as a relief to many people. It is in this place that a m...
Kernodle, George R. "The Theater Of Exaltation: Modern Tragedy And Poetic Drama." Kernodle, George R. Invitation to the Theatre. New Yory: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc., 1967. 217-223.
Many cultural enthusiasts, archaeologists, and architects have a common interest in theatre and its origins. People from a few decades back have located the remaining of the oldest theatres in Greece, England, France and some parts of minor Asia. Theatre was a part of people’s lives as it was one of the few sources of entertainment, and it was originated from when people collectively sit in a gathering and listen to a storyteller. There were performances done by different people present at that moment. Later on, this activity kept improving and innovating, and in the result, many theaters for entertaining purposes were built by emperors who ruled the countries or kingdom in those days. The design of these theatres