{"id":42436,"date":"2018-01-18T19:03:00","date_gmt":"2018-01-18T23:03:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/?p=42436"},"modified":"2018-01-18T19:03:00","modified_gmt":"2018-01-18T23:03:00","slug":"jq-magazine-theatre-review-mugen-noh-othello","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/2018\/01\/18\/jq-magazine-theatre-review-mugen-noh-othello\/","title":{"rendered":"JQ Magazine: Theatre Review \u2014 \u2018Mugen Noh Othello\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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“In this striking setting, the noh theatrics perfectly capture and complement the emotions and thoughts recurring in Shakespeare\u2019s play.” (Richard Termine)<\/p><\/div>\n

By<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>Lyle<\/em><\/strong> Sylvander<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(<\/em><\/strong>Yokohama<\/em><\/strong>–<\/em><\/strong>shi<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, 2001-02) <\/em><\/strong>for<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>JQ<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>magazine<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. <\/em><\/strong>Lyle<\/em><\/strong> has<\/em><\/strong> completed<\/em><\/strong> a<\/em><\/strong> master<\/em><\/strong>\u2019<\/em><\/strong>s<\/em><\/strong> program<\/em><\/strong> at<\/em><\/strong> the<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>School<\/em><\/strong> of<\/em><\/strong> International<\/em><\/strong> and<\/em><\/strong> Public<\/em><\/strong> Affairs<\/em><\/strong> at<\/em><\/strong> Columbia<\/em><\/strong> University<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>and<\/em><\/strong> has<\/em><\/strong> been<\/em><\/strong> writing<\/em><\/strong> for<\/em><\/strong> the<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>JET<\/em><\/strong> Alumni<\/em><\/strong> Association<\/em><\/strong> of<\/em><\/strong> New<\/em><\/strong> York<\/em><\/strong><\/a>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>since<\/em><\/strong> 2004. <\/em><\/strong>He<\/em><\/strong> is<\/em><\/strong> also<\/em><\/strong> the<\/em><\/strong> goalkeeper<\/em><\/strong> for<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>FC<\/em><\/strong> Japan<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, <\/em><\/strong>a<\/em><\/strong> New<\/em><\/strong> York<\/em><\/strong> City<\/em><\/strong>–<\/em><\/strong>based<\/em><\/strong> soccer<\/em><\/strong> team<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

From Jan. 11-14, director Satoshi Miyagi and his company Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC) returned to Japan Society<\/a> of New York with their sold-out production of Mugen <\/em>Noh <\/em>Othello<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>As with their previous Madea<\/a><\/em> (seen at Japan Society in 2011), Miyagi and company adapt a classic play from the Western canon and infuse it with the stylistic conventions of noh. Specifically, Miyagi and his playwright Sukehiro Hirakawa re-tell the story from the viewpoint of Desdemona\u2019s ghost, a traditional in the m<\/em>ugen<\/em> (supernatural) style of noh. This style typically involves otherworldly beings, including gods, spirits and ghosts. Time is often depicted as passing in a non-linear fashion, and action may switch between two or more timeframes from moment to moment, including flashbacks.<\/p>\n

Noh theatre is considered to be the highest art form among the five classical Japanese forms of theatre: noh, kabuki, bunraku, butoh and kyogen. The art form requires highly trained actors and musicians (Mugen<\/em> Noh<\/em> Othello<\/em> featured a percussion ensemble of six). The actors usually wear masks to signify the characters’ gender, age and social ranking, and by wearing masks the actors may portray youngsters, old men, female, or even nonhuman characters such as demons or animals. Noh also contains a uniquely structured stage with the hashigakari<\/em>, <\/em>a narrow bridge that is used for entering. Since Japan Society\u2019s theater contains a more conventional stage (albeit without proscenium), the hashigakari<\/em> has been approximated. All actors enter through it, as if entering from another space into the new shared theatrical space with the audience. Throughout the performance, the actors chant in unison, further accentuating the otherworldly atmosphere.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Overall, this production utilized these elements in effectively portraying the story of Othello from Desdemona\u2019s point of view. More specifically, the production focuses on the moment that she is killed: it\u2019s as if she\u2019s permanently trapped in a moment in time once her body leaves this world. This suspended instant haunts the evening as she recounts the story of her love for Othello, his subsequent jealousy and her eventual murder as a result of that jealousy. Desdemona feels most passionately drawn to Othello at this moment, for his rage is an expression of his love for her. This paradox lies at the heart of this adaptation as Desdemona leaves on a hopeful note of redemption of hope in the afterlife. In Shakespeare\u2019s text, these events unfold through the action on stage. Here, it is delivered in the hypnotic chanting that defines noh.<\/p>\n

The supernatural elements of Muge<\/em>n Noh Othello<\/em> highlight some of the more mysterious elements of Shakespeare\u2019s tale, particularly Othello\u2019s jealousy (\u201cthe green-eyed monster\u201d) when seeing the mysterious handkerchief. In this striking setting, the noh theatrics perfectly capture and complement the emotions and thoughts recurring in Shakespeare\u2019s play.<\/p>\n

For<\/em><\/strong> upcoming<\/em><\/strong> events<\/em><\/strong> at<\/em><\/strong> Japan<\/em><\/strong> Society<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em><\/strong>visit<\/em><\/strong> www<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong>japansociety<\/em><\/strong>.<\/em><\/strong>org<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

For<\/em><\/strong> more<\/em><\/strong> JQ<\/em><\/strong> reviews<\/em><\/strong>, <\/em><\/strong>click<\/em><\/strong> here<\/em><\/strong><\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0Lyle Sylvander\u00a0(Yokohama–shi, 2001-02) for\u00a0JQ\u00a0magazine. Lyle has completed a master\u2019s program at the\u00a0School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University\u00a0and has been writing for the\u00a0JET Alumni Association of New York\u00a0since 2004. He is also the goalkeeper for\u00a0FC Japan, a New York City–based soccer team. From Jan. 11-14, director Satoshi Miyagi and his company Shizuoka Performing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[75,4,53,291,58],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-articlejournalism","category-events","category-jq-magazine","category-reviews"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pkZ7m-b2s","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42437,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42436\/revisions\/42437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jetwit.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}