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Entertainment Around the World: Kabuki Theater (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

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  Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Bruce Gulland and I'm Megan Nolette. Spotlight uses
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  a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
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  matter where in the world they live. Queen. A group of people sit
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  in a theater. A curtain hangs across the stage where actors will perform.
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  The people speak quietly. Suddenly there is a loud noise. The people watching
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  go quiet. There is another noise, and another. They come faster and
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  faster, then just as quickly they stop. The curtain opens. A man
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  stands alone on the stage. He balances on one leg. His arms are
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  above his head. He wears very bright clothing. His face is painted in
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  strange black and white lines. Music plays. The man begins to speak.
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  This is the beginning of a kabuki play. Kabuki is a special kind of
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  theater from Japan. It uses a very different style of acting than most people
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  know. Today's Spotlight is on kabuki theater. Kabuki theater is a historic art
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  form from Japan. There are special theaters where people only perform kabuki. Some
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  actors are only kabuki actors. They play the same characters that their family has
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  played for generations, but kabuki was not so ceremonial in the beginning. Instead,
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  kabuki began as a kind of street theater. The first actors did not
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  even use a building. Instead, the plays took place on the banks of
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  a dried river. Izumo No Ukuni was a dancer who lived in the fifteenth
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  century. She brought together these first plays. At first, kabuki was mostly
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  song and dance, and Okuni performed by herself. But next Okuni began to
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  gather other women around her. Many of these women were sex workers, or
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  they were people who did not fit into society. Okuni trained them to dance,
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  She taught them to sing and act. Soon these women operated larger shows.
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  The women would put on clothes to look like priests or soldiers. Sometimes
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  they would make fun of these important people. Sometimes they would act out love
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  stories. These plays became very popular. They were funny, bright, and
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  often sexual. Other groups began to copy o Kooney's style. Soon people all
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  over Japan were performing kabuki. Akooney retired from performing in sixteen ten. She
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  was like a film star, but her kind of kabuki would not last.
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  Even after it was popular, many kabuki actors were still sex workers. Many
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  people did not like that these workers were performing. They believed it was bad
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  for people watching and that it would make the men who watched act badly.
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  In sixteen twenty nine, the Japanese government stepped in. They banned women from
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  performing in kabuki, but kabuki did not go away. Instead, men took
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  on a kuny style. They built theaters, they began writing full plays.
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  Slowly, kabuki turned into a very particular kind of show. Actors would wear
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  bright clothing, and they would paint their faces with bright colors. The clothing
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  and face paint would show what kind of character they were playing. A characteristic
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  of kabuki actors is the use of white makeup base for the face. This
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  makes the contrast with the other colors painted on the face more distinct. An
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  evil person would paint themselves to look frightening. A funny character would seem like
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  they were always smiling. Acting in kabuki sai, it is also very stylized.
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  If the play has a fight, it does not look like a real
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  fight. Instead, the actors will dance. Kabuki also treats emotion differently.
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  Today, many actors will try to show emotion as realistically as they can.
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  They cry when their character is sad, they smile when the character is happy.
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  But in kabuki, actors show strong emotions through their bodies. To do
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  this, they will make poses called mia. Each mia shows what the character
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  is feeling. Some actors will use the same mia in many different plays.
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  Kabuki theater also started using difficult stage tricks. In seventeen thirty six, kabuki
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  theaters started using moving stages. These stages could go around in a circle or
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  move up and down. Some used trapdoors, and in the early eighteenth century,
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  kabuki theaters began using something called a hanamichi. Hanamichi is a raised bridge
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  that goes from the back of the room to the stage. Many actors would
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  enter over the hanamichi. They would act out scenes above people's heads. Even
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  today, most kabuki theaters have a hanamichi. It is one of the most
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  important parts of kabuki staging. The stories told in kabuki theater also grew more
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  complex. There are many different kinds of kabuki plays. Some are funny,
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  some are based on Japanese history. Others show religious stories. One of the
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  most famous kabuki plays is called The Treasury of Loyal Retainers, but many English
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  translations call it the forty seven Ronan. The forty seven Ronan is based on
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  Japanese history. The play begins when an official of the Japanese ruler or shogun,
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  insults a man named Hagan. Hagan is the lord of a small area
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  of the country, but he is of lower class than the official. In
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  his anger, Hagan attacks the official. Neither man is hurt, but the
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  shogun decides to punish Hagan. He orders Hargan to kill himself. He dismisses
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  all of Hagan's soldiers, and he gives Hagan's land to another lord. Hagan
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  does not believe this punishment is right. He believes the shogun should punish the
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  official too, but Hagan is very loyal. He kills himself with his own
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  sword, but as he dies, he speaks to the head of his soldiers,
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  named Uranoskey. Hagan tells Uranoskey to make the official pay for his wrongs.
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  The rest of the play follows Uranosuke and forty seven soldiers. These men
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  have no master, but they are loyal to Hagan. They plan to kill
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  the official who wronged him. At the end of the play, they attack
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  the official's home. They find and defeat him. The play shows this as
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  a heroic act. The soldiers did not have to do what their lord asked,
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  but they do what they believe is right. Today, kabuki theater is
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  not as popular as it once was. Most kabuki plays use very old language.
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  It is difficult for people to understand. Kabuki programs also last for a
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  very long time. Originally, some plays could last for ten hours. Many
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  theaters do not perform for this long now, but the plays still last for
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  much of the day. Still, kabuki theater continues to change. One Piece
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  and Naruto are important Japanese comics or manga. They are popular all over the
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  world. Some theaters have made kabuki versions of these manga. Ebizo Ichikawa is
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  a famous kabuki actor. He has even written a kabuki version of Star Wars.
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  He spoke to nipon dot com about the change is happening in kabuki.
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  Of course, it is still important to protect the good old things in our
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  co but we cannot let people believe that kabuki is an artful looked in a
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  box, you cannot view it calmly without making a sound. To change how
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  people understand our art will be very difficult, I think, but it is
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  something that has to be done for Kabuki's sake. Kabuki is important because of
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  its history, but it is also important because it is different. Kabuki offers
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  a particular style of song, dance and acting, with colorful costumes, makeup,
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  and specially built theatrical stages. Kabuki maintains theatrical traditions that combine with new
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  adaptations for modern storytelling. No other kind of performance in the world is like
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  kabuki. That, more than anything else, is what makes it leave its
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  mark on the world. Does your country have a special kind of theater when
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  did it develop? Tell us about it. You can leave a comment on
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  our website or email us at Radio at Radio English dot net. You can
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  also comment on Facebook at Facebook dot com, slash Spotlight Radio. The writer
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  of this program was Dan Chrisman. The producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices
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  you heard were from the United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were
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  adapted for this program and voiced by Spotlight. You can listen to this program
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  again and read it on the internet at www dot Radio English dot net.
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  This program is called Entertainment around the World Kabougi Theater. You can also get
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  our program delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through our free official Spotlight
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  English app. We hope you can join us again for the next Spotlight program. Goodbye,