Lecture-performance

The lecture-performance on the third day of the conference was held at the Arts House, a public venue to facilitate public participation. Members from Theatre Nohgaku: Elizabeth Dowd, Richard Emmert, Gary Mathews, Thomas O’Connor, John Oglevee and Laura Sampson explained the various components of the noh theater before presenting an excerpt of an English noh Blue Moon Over Memphis.

Tickets to the lecture-performance were sold out early. The guests of honor include Japanese ambassador Mr Shinoda Kenji and his wife, as well as the director of Japan Creative Centre Ms Ito Masako. The 2-hour program included individual members explaining and demonstrating different aspects of noh, two excerpts of English Noh, and ended with a Q&A session. We have edited the videos taken on the day into smaller segments for easier viewing. Each video comes with a brief summary on the page.

Sumida River Excerpt & Introduction by Thomas O'Connor

Sumida River, an English noh play Sumida River adapted by Richard Emmert from Sumidagawa, introduced by Managing Director of Theatre Nohgaku Thomas O'Connor. John Oglevee plays the shite, Thomas O'Connor the waki, musical accompaniment from left: Richard Emmert, Gary Mathews, Elizabeth Dowd, Laura Sampson.

About Noh Masks by John Oglevee

John Oglevee explains the artistry involved in a noh mask, as well as how noh masks change and provide different expression under different lights. He shows three different kinds of more commonly used masks. The first mask shown is the Koomote, young woman's mask. The second mask is Shakumi, mask for middle aged woman, such as the mother in Sumidagawa. The last mask John shows is the Hanya mask with two horns sticking out of the sides of the forehead. Is the Hanya mask male or female? John has the answer in the video.

Excerpt of Blue Moon Over Memphis with Explanation

An exchange between Julie (waki) and the ghost of Elvis (shite) in Blue Moon over Memphis. After the first scene, Thomas O'Connor from Theatre Nohgaku explained the structure and technique of noh. Production of a full version of Blue Moon Over Memphis is in the pipeline by Theatre Nohgaku. Check Theatre Nohgaku and this space [needs new link] for updates later.

Making sense of the noh stage by Elizabeth Dowd

Elizabeth Dowd explains the basic components of noh, including the Kamae, the basic & formal position/structure; the masks; suriashi (sliding feet); kata (movement pattern) such as shiitake-hiraki; uses of fans, etc. Elizabeth also explains the two different ways of chanting in noh and demonstrates these styles by performing excerpts of two plays Yuya (Yuya the courtesan) and Shojo (Shojo the Auspicious Lions). Yuya is chanted with wagin style and Shojo with gogin style. While discussing masks, Elizabeth mentions the "viewing pillars" that are used to guide performers with masks on. We created some for the show but unfortunately, they became those ugly long black poles that seems to have divided the screen in the video.

Instrument demonstration by Laura Sampson, Gary Mathews and Rick Emmert

Laura Sampson and Gary Mathews explain the structure and use of the noh flute (nohkan) and the shoulder drum (kotsuzumi) respectively. Richard Emmert explains the other two drums that are used in noh performance: the hip drum (ootsuzumi) and the stick drum (taiko). In place of a drum, he uses a hyoshiban (rhythm block) to explain the functions of drums."Kakekoe," the drum call, helps the instruments to come together. They present a short performance to illustrate these features after the explanation.

Q&A

In this final session all six performers came forward and answered questions from the audience members. There were a lot of interesting questions and responses, indicating a strong interest in noh and noh in English.

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