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- Convenors:
-
Reiko Yamanaka
(Hosei University)
Keizo Miyamoto (Hosei University)
Diego Pellecchia (Kyoto Sangyo University)
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- Stream:
- Performing Arts
- Location:
- Torre B, Piso 2, Sala T6
- Start time:
- 31 August, 2017 at
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
- Session slots:
- 1
Short Abstract:
Noh theatre differs greatly from other forms of performance. This panel focuses on three characteristic features of the noh establishment in the contemporary world: its socio-economic structure, the education of performers, and the role of amateurs.
Long Abstract:
Noh greatly differs from other forms of theatre. When and how have noh performance events come to be produced and staged the way they are today? Unlike contemporary theatre, noh performers do not undergo auditions: what kind of training and proficiencies are required to be considered a 'noh professional'? What is the relationship between professionals and amateurs, who form the economic foundation of noh, and how has it developed in recent years? Grounded in extensive study of historical sources, as well as interviews and surveys with performers and audience, this panel wishes to provide an overview of the noh establishment today, as well as to serve as groundwork for a comparative study of noh and contemporary theatre.
Accepted papers:
Session 1Paper short abstract:
This presentation will take the historical perspective in order to discuss how this unique production format came into being, and how it affected the social status of noh performers.
Paper long abstract:
Just like other forms of theatre, today noh is commonly produced as a performance event attended by paying spectators. However, looking at history one can see how originally noh was a ritual artform performed at shrines and temples, not a commercial business. Noh was exclusively performed as part of the customary rituals of the samurai even after it started to be patronized by the warrior class in the Muromachi period. Public performances open to a paying audience were rare. When this patronage system was dismantled as a consequence of the Meiji restoration, actors sought economic independence in a new kind of performance system. Noh taking place every month at the actors' mansions as part of their training schedule opened to the general public. There were no substantial differences between performances 'for the actors' and those 'for the audience', except that official permission was necessary to manage what had de facto become a commercial enterprise. In addition, since it was necessary to pay taxes, many of these performances were just labelled as 'training'. This presentation will take the historical perspective in order to discuss how this unique production format came into being, and how it affected the social status of noh performers.
Paper short abstract:
This paper will survey the traditional system of Noh training and education, and how it is gradually changing in the twenty-first century.
Paper long abstract:
Noh performers do not need to try out for productions through auditions, unlike actors and performers in other genres of theatre today. Academic training in drama, arts, or music is also not considered essential. The training of future 'Noh professionals' is carried out in a narrower context, in some cases within a single family where the skills are handed down from one generation to the next. This paper will survey the traditional system of Noh training and education. It will follow the training of different types of actors: children born into prestigious Noh families, children from peripheral families, and outsiders who enter the world of Noh as adults, either as students or as amateurs. First-hand information based on interviews with many different types of Noh performers will give us new insights, both about the traditional system of training and how it is gradually changing in the twenty-first century.
Paper short abstract:
This paper looks at the socio-economic and artistic role of amateur practitioners in two contrasting environments: noh theatre and contemporary non-traditional theatre.
Paper long abstract:
Amateur practices are tightly connected with the activities of professionals, as well as with those of the general public. In non-traditional, contemporary theatre, amateurs tend to constitute groups independent from professionals, dedicated to creative writing and/or staging of plays. By contrast, noh amateurs are first and foremost students of noh professionals, who in turn teach them in exchange for financial support. Such amateurs display the results of their training in self-produced recitals organised by their teachers. While in various non-traditional, contemporary art fields amateurs contribute to the creative world of professionals, blurring the distinction between the two categories of practitioners, most noh amateurs do not embark on creative enterprises. In what ways do amateurs contribute to the professional world of noh? This paper will consider similarities and differences between different kinds of amateur practices, discussing the future role of amateurs in the world of noh.