Midsummer Night’s Dream to perform again
Sunday April 26 is the encore performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Shakespeare’s comedy. This play is performed in a unique way, by a unique group of students. Put on last semester by the Japanese Theater class, the play is brought back this semester by the Asian Pacific American Student Services for the Gateway to Asia fest at CSU.
This performance is unique because the play is performed completely in Japanese, and performed in the three traditional styles of Japanese theater: Noh, Kyogen and Kabuki.
“Noh was developed 700 years ago,” said Masako Beecken, teacher of the Japanese Theater class. “Noh actors are all skilled singers, although not in a western sense. Singling is more like chanting. Noh expresses the darker side of humanity and topics often include demons, ghosts and tragedies.”
Because of the themes found in Noh, Beecken San decided to have the Fairies in the play act in the Noh style.
Edie Adams is one actor in the play, and she plays Titania, Queen of the Fairy world.
“Although traditionally Noh has little to no humor in Japanese plays, we are mostly speaking in ‘Noh voices,’ which are deeper and slower than Kyogen and Kabki,” she said.
Kyogen, another style found in the play, is traditionally played between Noh plays and is a classical Japanese comic theater said Beeken San.
Robert Mitchell is another actor in the play, and also the assistant stage manager. He says Kyogen is usually performed in colloquial Japanese. In the play, the mechanics, or the characters performing the play in the play, are played in Kyogen.
Kabuki is the final Japanese style used in the play. Kabuki uses lots of exaggeration seen in everything from makeup to costumes, said Beecken San.
In the play, the lovers represent the Kabuki style. Mitchell said that in Kabuki only men actors were allowed to act. In this play, the students play off the idea of cross-dressing.
Beecken San had a very strong opinion about the cultural importance of the play to CSU audiences, saying much of the younger generation has missed out on viewing Japanese plays.
“The introduction of and exposure to these different traditional art forms to non-Japanese people is significant and a rare experience for the community.”
“The fact that we can successfully put on a play and get asked to do it again is really significant,” Mitchell said.
The performance begins at 7 p.m. in the LSC Theater, and is free and open to the public.
