Research Presentation

My chosen world theatre tradition which I will be presenting today is Kabuki, a Japanese theatre art form that originated in 17th century Kyoto. According to Britannica, "ka" signifies song, "bu" means dance and "ki" means skill, already showing us how music, choreography and a high level of proficiency in the art form are integral.

This dance found itself becoming an inspiration which diffused into a multitude of local troupes, and consequently Kabuki became Japan's first dramatic art form that catered to commoners, which shows why the art form was incredibly prevalent, important and popular in the society at the time.

Sound and voice are also very important, and according to the book Music and World Cultures by the University of Arkansas, tsuke is the sound effect created by hitting two pieces of wood on the side of the stage against a board. This really helps to accentuate the movements of the actor and heighten the intensity of emotions presented by the characters, especially during a mie.

According to Laurence Kominz from the Asian Theatre Journal this was the tourist gate… and thus it was banned in 1629, leading to the emergence of wakashu kabuki which was performed by young boys. However in 1652 this was banned again due to similar motivations from the performers, and according to UNESCO, as a result of these changes Kabuki is now performed solely by men.

Now moving on to my Aii. The chosen performance convention which I will be exploring today is the art of the mie, which according to Invitation to Kabuki means, literally translated, "pose".

According to the Japan Arts Council the mie was created by Ichikawa Danjūrō, who originated the aragoto style when he imitated Fudō Myōō, a lord of light, in a threatening pose in an attempt to highlight his strength. According to the ARC, in Buddhism he is known as the immovable or unshakable one, again really emphasising the true purpose of the mie in depicting strength.

According to the video How to Perfectly Execute a Mie, the actor must first spread their legs apart, keep their body low to the ground and position their limbs in a way that is most visible to the audience while keeping their back straight. This low and upright posture is used to amplify the character's large, powerful and dominant nature as it depicts strength.

According to Leonard C. Pronko from the Johns Hopkins University Press, the mie, which is a pose of dynamic and fluid tension, is presented at the climax of any scene in order to create a closer connection between the character and the audience. This was originally reserved for moments of violence, tension or passion. However its usage gradually expanded to any moment of climax, reflecting its popularity amongst audiences.

I divided my exploration into the three fundamental principles of the mie: posture, movement and face. And I chose to explore this by watching videos on the YouTube channel Kabuki In Depth.

These footsteps are meant to be heavy to portray the grandioseness of the character, but after reviewing my practice videos I realised that my footsteps were actually quite gentle, which goes against the purpose of the aragoto. So to fix this I then started to consciously place more emphasis and body weight in each step.

Then I looked at head movement. The videos I watched had the character at the end of the mie whip their heads in a quick motion. At first attempting this made me quite dizzy and disoriented, but to help me with this I again made sure to spot the same point on the adjacent wall, as it provided me a fixed focus which helped to decrease the dizziness.

So I began with the exploration of posture. I went into a deep squat with my legs widened, holding my head up and tension throughout my upper body. When I showed this to my mentor I was informed that I had a tendency to slump my shoulders, so I found it really helpful to round back my shoulders when attempting the pose to make sure my chest was facing outwards.

Similarly, as you can see in this image, I had my mentor gently push me over to make sure I was holding tension in the right parts of my body. Through this I realised that I needed to hold more tension in my legs as I was easily falling over. The end goal with this exercise was for my mentor to feel like they were pushing a wall, in alignment with the unyielding willpower and arrogance of the aragoto.

My chosen Kabuki text is titled The Wicked Priest and the Seductive Princess. This is known to be one of the oldest Kabuki plays, first performed by Ichikawa Danjūrō in 1684. The aragoto character in this play is the priest Narukami… he becomes transformed by rage, declaring he will become the Thunder God, and consequently performs the hashiramaki no mie.

When watching the video on Kabuki In Depth I noticed that when the actor was moving into the scene it was, yes, heavy, but more specifically they were moving from heel to toe, which was different to what I was doing, which was just stomping on a flat foot. Thus to improve this I started to consciously walk first placing my heel down and then rolling to my toe.

Through experimenting with this I realised that I found difficulty with the balance and holding the pose for long periods of time, as I was shaking and falling over. So to help with this balance I found it helpful to lower my one legged squat and engage my core even more.

I also experimented with placing my hand on different parts of the stick. At first I noticed I was placing my hand too high up on the stick, which impaired my balance as it was making me wobble as I had no control over the stick and it was slipping. However when I placed my hand around head level it became instantly a lot easier for me to control the stick, and made it easier to balance.

In my Aii we know this is a mie that is wrapped around a pillar, but since I do not have access to a pillar, as evidenced in my Aii I will be using a bamboo stick, as it is a form of Japanese weaponry.

Through my exploration of Kabuki I have realised that this highly stylised physical nature presented me with quite a challenge, as I was more inclined to naturalism.

Furthermore, through my research I now understand the importance of moments of stillness within the play to enhance audience engagement. When reflecting on the purpose and effect of the mie I have grasped how these moments give the audience time to think, to reflect and to take in everything that is happening at once.

In a previous production I did, like The Tempest where I played Prospero, reflecting back on the scene where Prospero was outraged by Caliban's plot on his life, I realised that my over reliance on dialogue in conveying emotions and tension within the scene meant I primarily focused on my tonal variation, volume and pace, dismissing the body's role in conveying these important messages.

Last year I directed and acted in my own devised play, where each scene flowed directly into the next, being very naturalistic in style, with continuous action without there being at all a pause. However, now having realised the importance of moments of stillness in theatre, through my exploration of the mie I would now place deliberate pauses and breaks in the action where my character or the other characters freeze in moments where their physicality portrays the emotions they are currently feeling.

Through my inquiry I have learned that as a theatre tradition it is heavily rooted and grounded in the spiritual, cultural and ritualistic aspects of Japanese society. For example, in Aii I discussed how the aragoto mie was inspired by Fudō Myōō, a strong Buddhist deity. So evidently in Kabuki there are clear connections between religion and the use of the body.

Through my Kabuki exploration, especially my inquiry into the mie, I started to recognise the importance of universality in theatre. In the world we are a large, vibrant mix of cultures and backgrounds, and thus language should not serve as a sole conduit for meaning. When watching Kabuki plays in my inquiry I understood the meanings and emotions coming across without having a grasp on the language.

Whereas Western theatre practices are more heavily rooted in the fundamentals of human nature, the human psyche and politics, having more of a social and political foundation, like inner monologue or Brecht's alienation effect.

I have started to draw parallels between modern physical theatre groups and this Eastern theatre tradition, like Gecko and Frantic Assembly, who are breaking boundaries through movement and physicality to convey their Western political messages. Companies like The Paper Birds for example are starting to borrow these Eastern styles and blending them with Western motifs.