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Kabuki in London -- The Gempei Wars
#1
This is waaaaay off topic, however...

For those of you with an interest in theatre and/or Japanese history, this summer Ichikawa Ebizo will be performing several acts from the classic kabuki play Yoshitsune Sembonzakura (Yoshitsune And The Thousand Cherry Trees). This play deals with events from the Gempei Wars (1180-85) which saw the death struggle between the Heike & Genji clans (also known as the Taira and Minamoto) for control of Japan.

The play features a magical fox who takes on the form of a samurai (Tadanobu) in order to obtain a drum, the heads of which were made from the skin's his parents.

It is one of the great kabuki plays and Ebizo belongs to the oldest and most revered of the kabuki families. And thankfully, he is also a very talented actor.

No doubt tickets will not be cheap, but they will be worth every penny.

http://www.japantoday.com/category/ente ... orm-kabuki

[size=150:39j9irzd]Ebizo returning to London to perform kabuki[/size]
Friday 26th March, 05:36 AM JST

TOKYO —
Japanese Kabuki star Ichikawa Ebizo will return to London’s theater scene in June to perform the traditional Japanese drama after making a successful debut there in 2006, he said Thursday.

Sadler’s Wells Theatre in the British capital will see Ebizo take the lead role in three pieces taken from the classic production ‘‘Yoshitsune Sembon Zakura’’ (Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees) from June 4 to 15.

‘‘I want the audience to enjoy watching the ‘aragoto’ (exaggerated acting) and the ‘keren’ (eye-catching feats) and feel the pure love of children for their parents,’’ the 32-year-old said at a news conference in Tokyo. He will be taking on the dual role of a samurai in the 12th century and a fox turning into the warrior.

The play will also run at Tokyo’s Shinbashi Enbujyo theater in August and Kyoto’s Minami-za theater in September.


This play also features the Daimotsu ura scene which is,to my mind, one of the best pieces of aragoto written. I do not know if this act will be on the bill but the chances are good as it is one of the most famous Acts from this play.

Some more on the play:

http://kabuki21.com/ysz.php

My apologies for waxing over long on this, but the chance to see good kabuki outside of Japan is not to be missed.

:wink:

Narukami
David Reinke
Burbank CA
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