A long time ago I was a member of a gospel choir in New Jersey. Two of my classmates wanted to join the choir but asked me if it would be okay since one girl was Muslim and the other was an atheist. So the question arose: Can you do art that is religious in nature if you don't practise that religion. I bring this up because of the Zen Buddhist components of the Noh plays. Could Americans without a history of Buddhism or Japanese culture perform these plays?
In the case of the gospel choir I voted that you did not have to practise Christianity to sing gospel music. Mainly I felt the music transcended religion and was an art form that could speak to people of many beliefs. That's also how I feel about Noh plays. I think Aoi No Uye may still move us even if we limited knowledge or experience of Buddhism or Japanese culture.
So then could it be that an American company would be able to produce this play? After all we read and saw how intense and long the training is for Noh theatre. Even so I think it would be possible to have an Americanized version of a Noh play that would not be a complete bastardization of the play. It would be American in that the intricate moves will definitely not be the same, but I think that the right director and actors still would be able to capture the essence of the play. The passions of the characters reflect human emotions and spirits that manifests in each of us.
I would have liked to include in this blog the exact path to staging this Noh play. I think that the discovery of the way to effectively perform a Noh play is the result of research and trial and error. Anyway I think the process of launching a Noh play could be a reward in and of itself.
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There's been a lot of debate on this very question, I think. For example, Peter Brook staged the Mahabharata, and people questioned his decision to work with such an important work of Hindu mythology. Some people felt he was appropriating Indian culture in a way that was disrespectful, others felt he had made an intercultural masterpiece.
I think that one really valuable way to learn about other cultures is through attempting to learn and practice their performance traditions. Whether or not you get it "right," it's a way of learning physically and through experience, which opens up things that aren't clear through just reading or talking to people. But I think it's very important to acknowledge the differences that make other performance styles so difficult for us sometimes. And experiencing difference is one way of learning to accept and live with it. Does that make sense? Rather than disregarding Noh as something completely inaccessible, it might give actors at least some appreciation for what's beautiful about it and what's difficult.
This came up with a project I was doing last year for my final in Theatre History class. I adapted the first scene from Shakespeare's "Twelfth Nigh" into Kabuki style, which was performed. The time my group had for all of our scenes (ranging from Elizabethan to Melodrama) caused our pace to turn everything into a kind of farce.
I became a sort of black sheep of the group when I wanted to pay specific details to Kabuki as to make sure not to bastardize it. I was very afraid of our scene poking fun of the style and meaning behind movements and style of that period. Whether or not we did in fact lampoon the tradition, I am still unaware of, but, I do know, as Amy wrote, I did learn an immense amount as to why certain things were the way they were. And in turn, this caused me to really examine, for myself, the importance of this style of theatre.
I think it's especially difficult to adapt anything from another culture because one runs the risk of ignorance creating a bigger gap between the two instead of a bridge. For example, Death and the King's Horsemen could easily fall into the hands of someone, probably unintentionally, bastardizing all of the Yoruban tradition and value, but putting their own western ideals into it (whether they realized it or not). When thinking about doing a Noh show for the American stage, directed and adapted by Americans, one must fear Soyinka's warning of culture clash. However, intention is everything and the overall message is the transcending force to focus on, such as Death and the King's Horsemen's idea of survival and bridging that "difference" gap.
This is a very intricate debate with many justifiable points that have been well represented in Triza's blog. However, I have to respectfully disagre with individuals performing religious works without a clear understanding and connection with the art form. Sacred art holds a heavy weight with devout believers of any religion. We learned how these performers spend half their lives training to perform these pieces. For an american company, to spend 4 weeks in rehearsals to present a production that represents this artform is highly impossible to me. Their are levels and dimensions of faith and meditations in their work that can not be replicated without a clear meaning and connection to the belief of their society and culture.
If I went into a mosque and ask could I sing a christian hymn before service, I am sure that I would be asked to leave. This action would be disrespectful and would not be well recieved even if I was able to stay on key.
I don't believe in ostrasizing people for different beliefs, but I do encourage people to search beyond the surface when tapping into different realms of practice.
If one is an atheist, I can see the point of welcoming them into a gospel choir because at the core of gosepl music is the desire to introduce christianity and worship God.
I challenge everyone to look beyond the surface of every art form and find the true meaning. Creativity is great, but has to be done with a conscious effort to keep the integrity and wholeness of the piece.
This is such a great debate and i can go back to HS for a similar problem/difficulty. My friend and his sister were Jehovah witness and not believing in anything except breathing and eating they were left out of so many things. Every Holiday concert for band was spent in the library for weeks up to and after the concert b/c they couldn't hear the music nor condone it. Even those years we tried non traditional classical pieces, they were forbidden by their parents to be there just in the fact it was a "holiday" concert.
They both eventually had to drop out of band b/c they could not perform and be graded for it. How long does one go before their beliefs stop them from living and enjoying art as art and not religion.
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