Say What?

In our various groups, our class took turns today performing our Kabuki pieces. This was one of the few opportunities we had to actually go all the way with our performances. This means self-written scripts, memorized lines, costumes, make-up, and even musical accompaniment. It was a great experience, but perhaps it was just because I did not have to wear the stylized make-up of the Kabuki style. Our onagata, Jason, was more than willing to don a kimono and paint his face ghostly white as the lead female role. We also took another path by having our script in complete rhyme. This added another musical element to the accompaniment that Anna would be providing with her "goo jung." Even though her instrument was not typical of the Japanese environment, it still brought an Asian flair to the performance. The performances were all around hilarious and entertaining. It was truly one of the first times we had wholly delved into a world theatre that none of us had been familiar with. The response was so overwhelming from our teacher that we have decided to perform these pieces for other students. She will be setting up a performance date in March and we will see then how other students like Japanese theatre.