• Theatre History II
  • Kabuki and Bunraku
  • Social Background
    • Tokugawa shogunate (1600-1868)
    • Unification & peace
    • Isolation & religious intolerance
    • Merchant class
    • Popular entertainment
  • Bunraku Origins
    • Joruri
    • C. 1600 joruri with puppets
    • Mid-17th c. companies established
    • Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724)
    • Uemura Bunrakuken (1737-1810)
  • Puppets and handlers
  • Stage and Scenery:
    • 35 feet x 25 feet
    • 3 levels front to rear
    • All locales represented
    • Scenery changes
    • Many props
  • Narrator and samisen player
    • New team at end of each act
  • Kabuki
    • Most eclectic & changing
    • 1675-1750 developed most characteristics
    • By end of 18th c. most popular form
  • Origins of Kabuki
    • Women's Kabuki
    • 1603 - Okuni of Izumo (suppressed in 1629)
    • Young Men's Kabuki (supressed in 1652)
    • Men's Kabuki - permanent form
  • Dramatists
    • Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1724)
      • Puppet plays adapted
    • Takedo Izumo (1691-1756)
      • Chushingura (1748)
    • Kawatake Mokuami (1816-1893)
      • Domestic plays
  • Programs
    • c. 1650-1850 usually 12 hours:
    • 4 part division - related thematically
    • Historical play
    • Dance
    • Domestic drama
    • One-act drama
  • Physical performance
    • Reflects verbal text
    • Rhythmical movement
    • Studied posture & gesture
    • Distillation of essence of emotions
  • Mie
  • Music
    • Traditional for each play
    • Position of musicians varies
    • Musicians wear traditional samurai dress
    • Samisen most important
  • Actors and Acting
    • Speaking and dancing
    • Style follows convention
    • Careful lifelong study
    • Generally from theatre families
    • Role types
  • Make-up:
    • Traditional for types of roles
    • Exaggerate facial muscles
    • Usually red & black on white
    • Demons: blue or brown
  • Costumes
    • Traditional for types of roles
    • Moset based upon historic costumes
    • Mixing of historic periods
    • Pattern and color subdued
    • Up to 50 pounds
  • Stage
    • Originally used Noh stage
    • Mid-18th century own theatres
    • Stage
    • Traps & elevators
  • Hanamichi
    • All major entrances & exits
    • Sometimes 2
  • Auditorium
    • Stage now wide as auditorium
    • Floor boxes
    • Audience members on mats
  • scenery
    • Decorates rather than conceals stage
    • Every locale depicted
    • Mix of representational & symbolic