Masterpieces of Kabuki: Eighteen Plays on Stage

by James R. Brandon (Editor)

Masterpieces of Kabuki contains eighteen outstanding dramas taken from the landmark four-volume series Kabuki Plays On Stage. Together they cover the entire spectrum of kabuki drama from 1697 to 1905, the period during which kabuki’s dramaturgy flourished prior to the onset of Western dramatic influence. Major playwrights, chronological periods of playwriting, and a variety of play types (history, domestic, and dance dramas) and performance styles are represented. All but one are in the current repertory and regularly staged. The volume includes introductions to each play and a new general introduction highlighting kabuki’s historical development and relating the plays to their performance context.

As the subtitle implies, the plays are translated as if "on stage." Stage directions indicate major scenic effects, stage action, costuming, makeup, music, and sound effects. In some cases, complex stage actions such as stage fights are given in detail. The plays collected here are all marvelous examples of dramatic writing, intended to be acted on the stage before audiences. They reveal kabuki’s eras of brilliance and bravado, villainy and vengeance, darkness and desire, and restoration and reform. All continue to stir audiences to admiration and excitement.

Genres: Japan, Theatre

368 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2004

About the author

An authority on kabuki theater, James Rodger Brandon received his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. After receiving his Ph.D. in 1955, Brandon joined the Foreign Service for six years, working in Java and Japan. Upon his return to the United States in 1961 Brandon taught Asian theater at the University of Michigan's Department of Speech and Comparative Literature, where he directed his first two Kabuki productions in English. In 1968 Brandon joined the staff at the University of Hawai'i in Manoa, where he taught until his retirement in 2000.

Reviews

[Czar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Consisting of eighteen plays, the book was nicely formatted complete with informational introductions providing background information on the history of kabuki and it's phases as a changing art.

I found the plays to be both unique and entertaining.
Recommended to folks who are interested in Japanese history and culture