Diana CretuCretu 1Misha AlbertDrama 101 Introduction to Theatre Arts2 December 2014

Cretu 5

The Art of Walking and Stillness: The Essential Elements of Traditional Japanese Noh Theatre and its Influence on Method ActingTraditional Japanese theatre has an extended performance tradition spanning several years. Japanese Noh theatre with an unbroken performance lineage of six hundred years is considered the worlds oldest living theatre and has a particularly rich theatrical and aesthetic heritage offering a doorway into Japanese history and culture. A fundamentally symbolic and highly stylised theatre which puts emphasis on ritual, physicality and suggestion, Noh theatre can be synthesized in six essential aspects: kamae, suri-ashi, kata, ma, jo-ha-kyu and omote and constitutes the basis for the contemporary anti-naturalistic and anti-Stanislavskian work of Tadashi Suzuki and his method acting. In its powerful minimalist and formal environment, Noh theatre becomes an event to be experienced directly and personally, engaging its audience and requiring a certain level of commitment in order to be fully understood.The first essential aspect in Noh theatre is to master the kamae, the basic standing position from which everything else follows. This is the basic posture of a Noh performer, it is very strong and energy-charged [] from it all movement develops and returns (Griffiths 37). In the lower body, the knees are slightly bent, lowering the center of gravity of the performer. In the upper body, the arms are slightly bent, elbows out, making a kind of circle shape with the arms and in the right hand a fan is held. The most used prop in Noh, transforming into any needed object, the fan also becomes part of the costume as its decoration will reflect the nature of the character. In Noh, kamae is a position of readiness: actors are grounded, centred, energised and ready to do whatever comes next. It is a position of relaxed strength, tension and contained energy, when the posture has been learned, it looks natural and relevant to the other movement patterns (Griffiths 37). The fascination of Noh is that it displays what cannot be seen. The pose, or kamae, is fundamental to Noh. The character stands still, seemingly frozen, but instead of a lack of motion, the kamae displays dynamic stillness. The actor is not moving, but the pose is full of pent-up energy. In Noh theatre, the kamae represents the standing between heaven and earth in which the body floats like a marionette and allows the actor complete freedom and steadiness. After mastering the kamae and the art of stillness, a Noh apprentice moves on to the essence of Noh movement and is taught suri-ashi or sliding feet. Avoiding harsh steps on the easily vibrated Noh stage, the actor slides his feet ensuring that [they] never completely leave the floor, even when the toes are lifted slightly at the end of a step (Griffiths 38). When walking, the actor seeks to maintain his body at the same level, without bobbing up or down. The stillness and control of the suri-ashi depends not only upon the strength and control of the kamae, but also in the control of the slightly bent knees which act as shock absorbers to maintain a level and erect gliding movement (Griffiths 38). With both the toes and heel in near constant contact with the floor, until the end of the step, the effect of this walk is quite striking to behold by the uninitiated and initiated both. The size of the steps taken, as well as the angle of the feet will vary, depending on the character being portrayed. Women are usually portrayed with the feet parallel and almost touching. Their steps will be small; usually no more than the length of one foot, and even smaller for old women. Men will spread the feet slightly apart and hold them angled outwards. The distance between the feet, as well as the size of the step will be greater, when portraying warriors, or demons, in order to present a strong figure on stage. Regardless of which character is portrayed, both suri-ashi and kamae remain graceful, relaxed and flowing, allowing the actor to convey his energy, and the personality of his character to the audience.A third essential aspect of Noh theatre is the kata or pattern, the stylistic movement patterns that form the gestural vocabulary and blocking of the dance. Although the kata do not carry specific symbolic meaning, they convey the feelings and emotions of a character or dramatic moment (Baron 144), their meaning is created by their context in the dance. Whilst some kata are designed for specific plays, the majority are used in all plays as the same basic movements allow a contextual novelty of expression without altering the structure of the movement (Griffiths 38). The actor needs intense concentration and a willingness to find freedom within the limitations of that rigorous gestural vocabulary. Noh performers take finely detailed kata and within the dance turn them into a series of successive, fluid, emotive motions that in turn give emotional expression to Noh.Ma, is the Japanese aesthetic concept that can be understood as space, time and space-time, as the interval or timing between two structured parts. In its multiplicity of meanings ma becomes a unique conceptual term, one without parallel in other languages (Komparu 70) also capable of referring to a performers internal sense of time. Representing an actors ability to perform from a deeper level of being that is in-tune, ma transforms into a pregnant" or potential space where the performer and the audience can fall in the same time achieving the ideal state of performance. Ma is about a space, pause, interval or gap that allows the imagination of the viewer to fill something in and complete it and is present in Noh theatre through the design, architecture, text, music and performances acting as a core element. To appreciate ma, it becomes vital to understand that Noh is an art form that is pointing to something beyond what is simply perceived by the senses. Noh, through its theatrical design and symbolic-like choreography, between action and stillness, relaxes the superficial consciousness in order to draw up the deeper consciousness. At these intervals between actions, if the audience is moved, it is because the actor was able to transcend his own consciousness so that he can bind together the moments before and after that instant when nothing happens (Komparu 71). This moment can be attributed to the inner tension that is created when an artist maintains unperturbed concentration between actions. Thus, if a movement is performed and brought to a resting place, ma, the actor does not at any point drop or lose the internal tension, but sustains the flow of energy throughout.The most important aesthetic principle in traditional Japanese Noh theatre, Jo-ha-Kyu, beginning, middle, end or slow, fast, faster fundamentally refers to the expansion and contraction of energy. Originally an ancient Chinese concept, jo-ha-kyu is fundamental to Nohs rhythm: a slow start, development and disruption, and then resolution (Komparu 145). Jo-ha-kyu appears in other art forms, but it is best known today as part of Noh. Rather than simply dividing a whole into three parts, it incorporates not only the play itself, but the songs and dances within the play, and even the individual steps, motions, and sounds that the performers make. The progression is always cyclical and is generally applicable: it orders the segments within the scenes, the scenes within the plays, and the plays within a day's program, each of the arts of Noh, having its characteristic mode of jo-ha-kyu. Starting at the jo of the progression is a single performer chanting a line of prose, and ending with the kyu extreme is a performer dancing in time to rhythm maintained by the drums and the chorus with the flute adding touches of color.Although the omote, noh mask is beautifully carved in wood, generally with a neutral expression, an experienced Noh actor will be able to give expression through small and subtle movements in order to portray a myriad of emotions. For example, actors may tilt the mask up to suggest that the mask is laughing or tilt the mask down to suggest that the mask is crying. Nothing demonstrates the simplicity of Noh more than the use of mask as the fixed expression of the mask requires that it provide the quintessence of the emotional atmosphere of the play.(Griffiths 46). In total there are over 200 different masks in Noh theatre, the protagonist choosing the right one based on the theme of the play, as opposed to the character. Most, but not all, main roles require the use of a mask, the roles of actual living men are performed without a mask in a performance style named hita-men (direct face"), where the actor performs without expression, as if his own face is the mask. The omote is sculpted in a way in which the real and the abstract are ingeniously joined to produce a beauty of form which depending upon the movements of the actor, can cause various moods to be expressed upon the stage.Contemporary Japanese theatre director Tadashi Suzuki, was inspired by the elements of Noh theatre and was unimpressed by modern naturalist method acting. Thus, he developed the Suzuki method of acting, a style derived from the classical Japanese tradition, particularly Noh, which involved the use of the whole body so that communication was carried out nonverbally as well as verbally. The Suzuki method is non-realistic in its expression (Suzuki 29) and works to build an actors awareness of his body, especially his center as opposed to the Stanislavsky cerebral method to acting. The method uses exercises that are inspired by Noh theatre and requires great amounts of energy and concentration. They result in the actor becoming more aware of his natural expressiveness and allow him to commit more fully to the physical and emotional requirements of the play.

Bibliography

Carruthers I.; Takahashi Y., The Theatre of Tadashi Suzuki, Cambridge University PressDavid G. The Training of Noh Actors and The Dove Hardcover Feb 1 1998Komparu K. The Noh Theatre: Principles and Perspectives. N.Y. Weatherhill. 1983Tadashi S. The Way of Acting: The Theatre Writings of Tadashi Suzuki, trans. J. Thomas Rimer. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1986.