Going to the Kyogen/Classes Continue

So, on Friday night my college got me and a group of my fellow compatriots to the traditional Japanese theatre, Kyogen. Kyogen is a lot like Nou, except that it is principally comedic in nature. So me being the experienced performance art viewer as I am, I figured it would be interesting. I'm not being self-patronizing when I say that either; I spent a week in NYC for a class pretty much doing nothing but going to performances and thinking about them in a structured analytical format. On top of that I've done all sorts of performances, run tech, etc. Sitting down and analyzing a play is one of those oft-useless skills that I seem to have developed over the years, so I was looking forward to be able to put it to good use.

Kyogen it turns out defies most description from a Western-based view of theatre. For one the speech is of a highly stylized nature, thus making sure that what Japanese comprehension I have is near useless. I understood perhaps every 20th word when I could concentrate properly. For the first two acts there was practically no movement among the characters, and the plot was almost completely driven by dialogue. Cue my earlier mention of highly stylized speech. Many Western eyes did glaze over.

The costumes however were something to look at, as they were all traditional Japanese outfits. The stage was also rather interesting, being built with a roof of a traditional Japanese building.

The third act was much better, with a more coherent and followable plot, and real character movement and interaction that went beyond looking at each other and talking. It is important to mention that all the actors are men, and that they don't go to great lengths to show they are women.

Still, it was an interesting experience nonetheless, and I'll probably reflect on it some more.

Otherwise just continuing with classes, mostly nondescript at the moment. They're classes what more can I say? Japanese is going alright at the moment.