WEBVTT

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Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Bruce
Gulland and I'm Megan Nolette. Spotlight uses

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a special English method of broadcasting.
It is easier for people to understand no

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matter where in the world they live. Queen. A group of people sit

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in a theater. A curtain hangs
across the stage where actors will perform.

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The people speak quietly. Suddenly there
is a loud noise. The people watching

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go quiet. There is another noise, and another. They come faster and

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faster, then just as quickly they
stop. The curtain opens. A man

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stands alone on the stage. He
balances on one leg. His arms are

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above his head. He wears very
bright clothing. His face is painted in

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strange black and white lines. Music
plays. The man begins to speak.

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This is the beginning of a kabuki
play. Kabuki is a special kind of

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theater from Japan. It uses a
very different style of acting than most people

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know. Today's Spotlight is on kabuki
theater. Kabuki theater is a historic art

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form from Japan. There are special
theaters where people only perform kabuki. Some

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actors are only kabuki actors. They
play the same characters that their family has

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played for generations, but kabuki was
not so ceremonial in the beginning. Instead,

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kabuki began as a kind of street
theater. The first actors did not

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even use a building. Instead,
the plays took place on the banks of

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a dried river. Izumo No Ukuni
was a dancer who lived in the fifteenth

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century. She brought together these first
plays. At first, kabuki was mostly

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song and dance, and Okuni performed
by herself. But next Okuni began to

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gather other women around her. Many
of these women were sex workers, or

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they were people who did not fit
into society. Okuni trained them to dance,

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She taught them to sing and act. Soon these women operated larger shows.

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The women would put on clothes to
look like priests or soldiers. Sometimes

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they would make fun of these important
people. Sometimes they would act out love

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stories. These plays became very popular. They were funny, bright, and

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often sexual. Other groups began to
copy o Kooney's style. Soon people all

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over Japan were performing kabuki. Akooney
retired from performing in sixteen ten. She

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was like a film star, but
her kind of kabuki would not last.

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Even after it was popular, many
kabuki actors were still sex workers. Many

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people did not like that these workers
were performing. They believed it was bad

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for people watching and that it would
make the men who watched act badly.

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In sixteen twenty nine, the Japanese
government stepped in. They banned women from

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performing in kabuki, but kabuki did
not go away. Instead, men took

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on a kuny style. They built
theaters, they began writing full plays.

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Slowly, kabuki turned into a very
particular kind of show. Actors would wear

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bright clothing, and they would paint
their faces with bright colors. The clothing

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and face paint would show what kind
of character they were playing. A characteristic

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of kabuki actors is the use of
white makeup base for the face. This

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makes the contrast with the other colors
painted on the face more distinct. An

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evil person would paint themselves to look
frightening. A funny character would seem like

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they were always smiling. Acting in
kabuki sai, it is also very stylized.

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If the play has a fight,
it does not look like a real

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fight. Instead, the actors will
dance. Kabuki also treats emotion differently.

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Today, many actors will try to
show emotion as realistically as they can.

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They cry when their character is sad, they smile when the character is happy.

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But in kabuki, actors show strong
emotions through their bodies. To do

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this, they will make poses called
mia. Each mia shows what the character

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is feeling. Some actors will use
the same mia in many different plays.

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Kabuki theater also started using difficult stage
tricks. In seventeen thirty six, kabuki

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theaters started using moving stages. These
stages could go around in a circle or

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move up and down. Some used
trapdoors, and in the early eighteenth century,

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kabuki theaters began using something called a
hanamichi. Hanamichi is a raised bridge

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that goes from the back of the
room to the stage. Many actors would

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enter over the hanamichi. They would
act out scenes above people's heads. Even

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today, most kabuki theaters have a
hanamichi. It is one of the most

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important parts of kabuki staging. The
stories told in kabuki theater also grew more

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complex. There are many different kinds
of kabuki plays. Some are funny,

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some are based on Japanese history.
Others show religious stories. One of the

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most famous kabuki plays is called The
Treasury of Loyal Retainers, but many English

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translations call it the forty seven Ronan. The forty seven Ronan is based on

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Japanese history. The play begins when
an official of the Japanese ruler or shogun,

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insults a man named Hagan. Hagan
is the lord of a small area

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of the country, but he is
of lower class than the official. In

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his anger, Hagan attacks the official. Neither man is hurt, but the

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shogun decides to punish Hagan. He
orders Hargan to kill himself. He dismisses

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all of Hagan's soldiers, and he
gives Hagan's land to another lord. Hagan

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does not believe this punishment is right. He believes the shogun should punish the

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official too, but Hagan is very
loyal. He kills himself with his own

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sword, but as he dies,
he speaks to the head of his soldiers,

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named Uranoskey. Hagan tells Uranoskey to
make the official pay for his wrongs.

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The rest of the play follows Uranosuke
and forty seven soldiers. These men

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have no master, but they are
loyal to Hagan. They plan to kill

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the official who wronged him. At
the end of the play, they attack

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the official's home. They find and
defeat him. The play shows this as

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a heroic act. The soldiers did
not have to do what their lord asked,

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but they do what they believe is
right. Today, kabuki theater is

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not as popular as it once was. Most kabuki plays use very old language.

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It is difficult for people to understand. Kabuki programs also last for a

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very long time. Originally, some
plays could last for ten hours. Many

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theaters do not perform for this long
now, but the plays still last for

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much of the day. Still,
kabuki theater continues to change. One Piece

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and Naruto are important Japanese comics or
manga. They are popular all over the

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world. Some theaters have made kabuki
versions of these manga. Ebizo Ichikawa is

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a famous kabuki actor. He has
even written a kabuki version of Star Wars.

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He spoke to nipon dot com about
the change is happening in kabuki.

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Of course, it is still important
to protect the good old things in our

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co but we cannot let people believe
that kabuki is an artful looked in a

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box, you cannot view it calmly
without making a sound. To change how

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people understand our art will be very
difficult, I think, but it is

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something that has to be done for
Kabuki's sake. Kabuki is important because of

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its history, but it is also
important because it is different. Kabuki offers

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a particular style of song, dance
and acting, with colorful costumes, makeup,

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and specially built theatrical stages. Kabuki
maintains theatrical traditions that combine with new

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adaptations for modern storytelling. No other
kind of performance in the world is like

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kabuki. That, more than anything
else, is what makes it leave its

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mark on the world. Does your
country have a special kind of theater when

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did it develop? Tell us about
it. You can leave a comment on

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our website or email us at Radio
at Radio English dot net. You can

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also comment on Facebook at Facebook dot
com, slash Spotlight Radio. The writer

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of this program was Dan Chrisman.
The producer was Michio Ozaki. The voices

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you heard were from the United Kingdom
and the United States. All quotes were

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adapted for this program and voiced by
Spotlight. You can listen to this program

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again and read it on the internet
at www dot Radio English dot net.

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This program is called Entertainment around the
World Kabougi Theater. You can also get

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our program delivered directly to your Android
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