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Studies the production and psychology of this Japanese drama form and compares its techniques with those of the Western theater
Words cannot explain to an outsider the sight and feel of the Japanese stage. And definitions and descriptions do not convey an exact image to people brought up on a concept of the theatre that differs so greatly from the Japanese as ours. In seeing something foreign, too, our eyes must be guided carefully, so that we know what we are seeing and how to look at it profitably. All of us are to be grateful for this book, because now, without leaving our countries, or for that matter our armchairs, we can peer at leisure into expertly selected, edited and glossed highlights of the three great classical theatre arts of Japan-Noh, Bunraku and Kabuki. The Fifty-four ensuing photographs, with their textual commentary, are the equivalent, in my mind, of fifty-four choice seats at some of the best performances in modern Japan and intimate visits backstage.
On August 15, 1945, when the war ended, almost all of Tokyo and Osaka's theaters had been destroyed or heavily damaged by American bombs. The Japanese urban infrastructure was reduced to dust, and so, one might have thought, would be the nation's spirit, especially in the face of nuclear bombing and foreign occupation. Yet, less than two weeks after the atom bombs had been dropped, theater began to show signs of life. Before long, all forms of Japanese theater were back on stage, and from death's ashes arose the flower of art. Rising from the Flames contains sixteen essays, many accompanied by photographic illustrations, by thirteen specialists. They explore the triumphs and tribulations of ...
From the Peter Neil Isaacs collection.