WEBVTT

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Welcome to Spotlight. I'm Bruce Gulland
and I'm Megan no Lette. 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. A group of people sit in a

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theater. A curtain hangs across the
stage where actors will perform. The people

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

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

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then just as quickly they stop.
The curtain opens. A man stands alone

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on the stage. He balances on
one leg. His arms are above his

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head. He wears very bright clothing. His face is painted in strange black

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and white lines. Music plays.
The man begins to speak. This is

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the beginning of a kabuki play.
Kabuki is a special kind of theater from

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

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

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

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

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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 even

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

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dried river. Isumu No Okuni was
a dancer who lived in the fifteenth century.

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

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

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

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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 created larger shows.

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

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

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

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sexual. Other groups began to copy
Okuni's style. Soon people all over Japan

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were performing kabuki. Okuni retired from
performing in sixteen ten. She was like

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a film star, but her kind
of kobuki would not last. Even after

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it was popular, many kabuki actors
were still sex workers. Many people did

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

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watching and that it would make the
men who watched act badly. In sixteen

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

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kabuki. But kabuki did not go
away. Instead, men took on Akuni's

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style. They built theaters, they
began riding full plays. Slowly, kabuki

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turned into a very particular kind of
show. Actors would wear bright clothing,

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

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would show what kind of character they
were playing. A characteristic of kabuki actors

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is the use of white makeup base
for the face. This makes the contrast

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with the other colors painted on the
face more distinct. An evil person would

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paint themselves to look frightening. A
funny character would seem like they were always

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smiling. Acting in kabuki theater is
also very stylized. If the play has

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a fight, it does not look
like a real fight. Instead, the

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actors will dance. Kabuki also treats
emotion differently. Today, many actors will

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try to show emotion as realistically as
they can. They cry when their character

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is sad, they smile when the
character is happy. But in kabuki,

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actors show strong emotions through their bodies. To do this, they will make

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poses called mia. Each mia shows
what the character is feeling. Some actors

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will use the same mia in many
different plays. Kabuki theater also started using

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difficult stage tricks. In seventeen thirty
six, kabuki theaters started using moving stages.

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These stages could go around in a
circle or move up and down.

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Some used trap doors, and in
the early eighteenth century, kabuki theaters began

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using something called a hanamichi. A
hanamichi is a raised bridge that goes from

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the back of the room to the
stage. Many actors would enter over the

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hanamichi. They would act out scenes
above people's heads. Even today, most

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kabuki theaters have a hanamichi. It
is one of the most important parts of

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kabuki staging. The stories told in
kabuki theater also grew more complex. There

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are many different kinds of kabuki plays. Some are funny, some are based

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on Japanese history, Others show religious
stories. One of the most famous kabuki

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plays is called The Treasury of Loyal
Retainers, but many English translations call it

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the forty seven Ronan. The forty
seven Ronan is based on Japanese history.

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The play begins when an official of
the Japanese ruler or shogun insults a man

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named Hagan. Hagan is the lord
of a small area of the country,

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but he is of lower class than
the official. In his anger, Hagan

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attacks the official. Neither man is
hurt, but the shogun decides to punish

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Hagan. He orders Hagan to kill
himself. He dismisses all of Hagan's soldiers,

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and he gives Hagan's land to another
lord. Hagan does not believe this

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punishment is right. He believes the
shogan should punish the official too, but

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Hagen is very loyal. He kills
himself with his own sword, but as

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he dies, he speaks to the
head of his soldiers, named Uranoskey.

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Hagan tells Uranoskey to make the official
pay for his wrong The rest of the

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play follows Uranosuke and forty seven soldiers. These men have no master, but

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they are loyal to help. But
they are loyal, but they are loyal

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to Hargun. They plan to kill
the official who wronged him. At the

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end of the play, they attack
the official's home they find and defeat him.

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The play shows this as a heroic
act. The soldiers did not have

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to do what their lord asked,
but they do what they believe is right.

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Today, kabuki theater is not as
popular as it once was. Most

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kabuki plays use very old laying,
which it is difficult for people to understand.

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Kabuki programs also last for a very
long time. Originally, some plays

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could last for ten hours. Many
theaters do not perform for this long now,

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but the plays still last for much
of the day. Still, kabuki

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theater continues to change. One Piece
and Naruto are important Japanese comics or manga.

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They are popular all over the world. Some theaters have made kabuki versions

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of these manga. Ebiso ichi Ibi
Ebizo Ichikawa is a famous buki actor.

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He has even written a kabuki version
of Star Wars. He spoke to nipon

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dot com about the changes happening in
kabuki. Of course, it is still

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important to protect the good old things
in our culture, but we cannot let

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people believe that kabuki is an art
form looked in the box. You cannot

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view it calmly without making a sound. To change how people understand our art

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will be very difficult, I think, but it is something that has to

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be done for Kabuki's sake. Kabuki
is important because of its history, but

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it is also important because it is
different. Kabuki offers a particular style of

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song, dance and acting, with
colorful costumes, makeup, and specially built

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theatrical stages. Kabuki maintains theatrical traditions
that combine with new adaptations for modern storytelling.

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No other kind of performance in the
world is like kabuki. That,

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more than anything else, is what
makes it leave its mark on the world.

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Does your country have a special kind
of theater when did it develop?

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Tell us a out it. You
can leave a comment on our website or

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Spotlight Radio. The writer of this program

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was Dan Chrisman. The producer was
Meggio Ozaki. The voices you heard were

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from the United Kingdom and the United
States. All quotes were adapted for this

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program and voiced by Spotlight. You
can listen to this program again and read

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it on the internet at www dot
Radio English dot net. This program is

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called Entertainment around the World Kabugi Theater. You can also get our programs delivered

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We hope you can join us again
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