THE MARQUEE LOGO of Tokyo’s
Kabuki-za Theater- a phoenix
taking flight amid swirling flames-is a fifth building since 1898, in April.
Like the dynamic plays and dances it presents, the Ginza District venue is no
stranger to drama. Over the years, the Kabuki-za has been consumed by fire,
earthquakes, and war; its rebirth sets the stage for epic programs of song and
dance, colorful kimonos, traditional kumadori,
and the art of onnagata: male actors
playing the female parts.
Kengo Kuma, lead architect on the project,
incorporated details and artifacts from the previous buildings into a new
structure designed t owithstand tremors. “with Kabuki, the sense of the theater
being crowded with people is important, so the seating will still be a little
cramped,” Kuma told the Japan Times. Such intimacy is an essential element of
Kabuki’s “land of poetic vision,” as Shutaro Miyake wrote in Kabuki Drama. “One
might as well climb a tree in quest of fish as to expect logic and rationality
in a Kabuki play.” After its dramatic pause, Tokyo’s Kabuki-za is once again
ready, as its phoenix portends, for liftoff.
excellent place to visit
ReplyDelete