Author: Aubrey Halford Publisher: Tuttle Publishing ISBN: 1462904548 Category : Poetry Languages : en Pages : 589
Book Description
"The Halfords' book is an achievement. For the first time ever, any Westerner who reads English can obtain a real insight into the plots and stories, the texts and characteristics of Kabuki dramas, and in terms which a Western-trained mind can readily understand. For this the entire Kabuki world must be grateful." -- From the Foreword by Faubion Bowers, author of Japanese Theatre and Theatre in the East Kabuki has been described as "in the main, the finest theatre art in the world," and its ever-growing popularity both in Japan and abroad bears witness to its tremendous dramatic effectiveness. The fact that many persons tend to regard it as mere spectacle, thus missing the greater part of its moving appeal, has been due to the lack of any key to the intricacies of its plots and its unfamiliar stage conventions. Here at last is a genuine key, one which opens wide vistas of understanding and appreciation. Included here are lucid synopses and crystal-clear explanations of the hundred odd plays which form the backbone of the classical Kabuki repertoire and constitute over twice that many individual program items. Equally as valuable as the synopses are the informative and entertaining Notes explaining the many points that have proved perplexing to the non-Japanese spectator. Both synopses and notes are provided with a careful system of cross references and an indispensable index, all making for ready use and saving the spectator from "dwelling so much on some minor, but incomprehensible, point that the thread of the drama is lost." Kabuki is drama -- drama par excellence -- and now, thanks to this invaluable handbook, may at last be enjoyed as such. The authors have well fulfilled their aim of allowing the playgoer to concentrate on the performance and appreciate both the Kabuki actor's amazing virtuosity and the unique art of the Kabuki theatre.
Author: Ronald Cavaye Publisher: Tuttle Publishing ISBN: 1462903991 Category : Drama Languages : en Pages : 188
Book Description
Kabuki A Pocket Guide introduces readers to the foundations of Kabuki--its history and its actors, its acting styles and its performance, its color and music--to the sheer beauty and joy of Kabuki. Kabuki, the popular theatre of Japan, began in about 1603 and is still flourishing today. It was the entertainment of the common people as opposed to Noh, the refined theatre of the aristocracy, and is a close relative of the Bunraku puppet theater. All the actors in Kabuki, even those who play female roles, are men and plays and dances deal with the love of the heroes and villains form Japans real or legendary past. Concise enough to take to performance, this pocket guide to Kabuki provides a wealth of fascinating information about plays, the actors, and their history. As only an insider can do, the author takes us behind the scene to meet the actors, attend rehearsal, and get a first-hand look at the makeup, costumes, sets and props that go into a Kabuki performance.
Author: Noriko Asato Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA ISBN: Category : Language Arts & Disciplines Languages : en Pages : 491
Book Description
An indispensable tool for librarians who do reference or collection management, this work is a pioneering offering of expertly selected print and electronic reference tools for East Asian Studies (Chinese, Japanese, and Korean). Handbook for Asian Studies Specialists: A Guide to Research Materials and Collection Building Tools is the first work to cover reference works for the main Asian area languages of China, Japan, and Korea. Several leading Asian Studies librarians have contributed their many decades of experience to create a resource that gathers major reference titles—both print and online—that would be useful to today's Asian Studies librarian. Organized by language group, it offers useful information on the many subscription-based and open-source electronic tools relevant to Asian Studies. This book will serve as an essential resource for reference collections at academic libraries. Previously published bibliographies on materials deal with China or Japan or Korea, but none have coalesced information on all three countries into one work, or are written in English. And unlike the other resources available, this work provides the insight needed for librarians to make informed collection management decisions and reference selections.
Author: Samuel L. Leiter Publisher: Routledge ISBN: 1317478037 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 403
Book Description
Unique in any Western language, this is an invaluable resource for the study of one of the world's great theatrical forms. It includes essays by established experts on Kabuki as well as younger scholars now entering the field, and provides a comprehensive survey of the history of Kabuki; how it is written, produced, staged, and performed; and its place in world theater. Compiled by the editor of the influential Asian Theater Journal, the book covers four essential areas - history, performance, theaters, and plays - and includes a translation of one Kabuki play as an illustration of Kabuki techniques.
Author: Publisher: University of Hawaii Press ISBN: 0824842839 Category : Drama Languages : en Pages : 481
Book Description
While its actors made their entrace down the Flower Way over three hundred years ago, little of kabuki's repertory has been available to English readers. Not only are adequate translations difficult to produce, but also because the spoken parts of the drama constitute but a portion of that grand spectacle, English renderings often have an elliptical quality.These five plays, however, were translated from tapes made by James Brandon at actual performances, imparting to them an unusual immediacy. The superb translations are further enhanced by detailed commentary and stage directions that reflect music and sound effects as well as positions of actors on stage and their stylized gestures and posturing, all of which are such a vital part of a live performance. A concise introduction includes the history of kabuki, its religious background and ties with prostitution, its themes and playwriting systems, and its performance conventions, actors, music, and dance. Appendixes provide a fascinating focus on various sound effects and music cues in performance. More than one hundred production photographs vividly convey the action and emotion of one of the world's greatest stage arts. First published in 1975, this volume remains a classic.A reprint to the 1975 edition. Accepted into the UNESCO Collection of Representative Works, Japanese Series.
Author: William E. Deal Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA ISBN: 0195331265 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 433
Book Description
This book is an introduction the Japanese history, culture, and society from 1185 - the beginning of the Kamakura period - through the end of the Edo period in 1868.
Author: James R. Brandon Publisher: University of Hawaii Press ISBN: 9780824827885 Category : Drama Languages : en Pages : 372
Book Description
Masterpieces of Kabuki contains eighteen outstanding dramas taken from the landmark four-volume series Kabuki Plays On Stage. Together they cover the entire spectrum of kabuki drama from 1697 to 1905, the period during which kabuki’s dramaturgy flourished prior to the onset of Western dramatic influence. Major playwrights, chronological periods of playwriting, and a variety of play types (history, domestic, and dance dramas) and performance styles are represented. All but one are in the current repertory and regularly staged. The volume includes introductions to each play and a new general introduction highlighting kabuki’s historical development and relating the plays to their performance context. As the subtitle implies, the plays are translated as if "on stage." Stage directions indicate major scenic effects, stage action, costuming, makeup, music, and sound effects. In some cases, complex stage actions such as stage fights are given in detail. The plays collected here are all marvelous examples of dramatic writing, intended to be acted on the stage before audiences. They reveal kabuki’s eras of brilliance and bravado, villainy and vengeance, darkness and desire, and restoration and reform. All continue to stir audiences to admiration and excitement.
Author: James R. Brandon Publisher: University of Hawaii Press ISBN: 9780824824037 Category : Performing Arts Languages : en Pages : 462
Book Description
Kabuki Plays On Stage represents a monumental achievement in Japanese theatre studies, being the first collection of kabuki play translations to be published in twenty-five years. Fifty-one plays, published in four volumes, vividly trace kabuki's changing relations to Japanese society during the premodern era. Volume 1 consists of thirteen plays that showcase early kabuki's scintillating and boisterous styles of performance and illustrates the contrasting dramatic techniques cultivated by actors in Edo (Tokyo) and Kamigata (Osaka and Kyoto). The twelve plays translated in Volume 2 cover a brief period, but one that saw important developments in kabuki architecture, acting, dance, and the manipulation of characters and themes. As the series title indicates, the plays were translated to capture the vivacity of performances on stage. The translations, each accompanied by a thorough introduction that contextualizes the play, are based not only on published texts, but performance scripts and the study of the plays as they are performed in theatres today. Each volume is lavishly illustrated with rare woodblock prints in full color of Tokugawa- and Meiji-period productions as well as color and black-and-white photographs of contemporary performances. Published with the assistance of the Nippon Foundation.
Author: Leonard C. Pronko Publisher: Univ of California Press ISBN: 0520312708 Category : Performing Arts Languages : en Pages : 266
Book Description
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1967.
Author: Aubrey Halford
Author: Ronald Cavaye
Author: Noriko Asato
Author: Samuel L. Leiter
Author: 
Author: William E. Deal
Author: James R. Brandon
Author: James R. Brandon
Author: Leonard Cabell Pronko
Author: Leonard C. Pronko