Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy

One of the miracles of our age is the ability, through recorded material (the DVD in particular) to witness extended performances that one would normally never have access to.

Do you wish to watch the complete Shakespeare War of the Roses series?  Do you want to watch all of Shakespeare?  Do you want to watch all of the Mozart operas?  Do you want to watch an orchestra perform the complete Beethoven symphony cycle (or a second Beethoven symphony cycle?)  Do you want to watch the full Wagner Ring cycle?  Do you want to watch a second Ring cycle?  A third Ring cycle?  A feminist Ring cycle?

This list could be continued for a very long time.  I am fortunate to live in a cultural center, so I have had a chance to see Ring cycles, Shakespeare cycles, and Beethoven cycles with my own eyes – but those were frankly once in a lifetime events.  (And some cycles are simply impossible – even if one were in Salzburg in 2006, it was simply logistically impossible to watch all 22 Mozart operas performed in his 250th year.)

Now, if this is true for Western performances, it is even more true for Eastern performances.  Major Chinese and Japanese dramatic works are typically from 6 to 24 hours long, and thus in an evening out, one will only get scenes from a performance.  While these can be quite satisfying, they simply do not reflect the genius of the author.

A particular wonderful and hard-to-see type of performance is Japanese bunraku – the Japanese puppet theater.  This is quite different from Western puppet theater – the puppets are half-sized representations of human and each is manipulated by a team of three performers, which will often be present on stage.  A shamisen player performs music while a singer chants the dialogue.  Because the performance is small, even the two large bunraku theaters (the Osaka Bunraku National Theater and the bunraku stage at the Tokyo National Theater) can only seat a few hundred attendees – and these performances are sporadic.  Still, bunraku theater is something special – whenever I visit Japan, I try to attend a performance, even if I have to substantially alter my schedule to attend.  I have never been disappointed.  A single ticket to an afternoon matinee performance can easily cost $100 to $200.  Most of the kabuki repertoire is adapted from the Japanese puppet theater (and thus come the famous scenes where the human kabuki performers mimic puppet characters.)

One of the more famous plays in the bunraku repertoire is Sugawara and the Secrets of Calligraphy.  This script has been translated into English (and I can recommend that translation).  Scenes from the play can be found in a cheap Dover volume and in an older Oxford anthology.  There is a synopsis of the play here; it is loosely based on a real historical character, Sugawara no Michizane (845-903).  Sugawara was a calligraphy master and one of the two leading ministers in the royal court; and the play discusses the manuevers  – it concerns the political machinations as his rival Fujiwara no Tokihira tricks the emperor into exiling Sugawara.  Sugawara was a leading poet, and the 1746 play is a masterwork of Japanese writing, with long poetic sections.

Now, I’ve not come across a complete performance of this play – even one spread over several days or weeks.  Indeed, several parts of the play – including the first scene and especially the fifth scene are almost never performed.  So you can imagine my excitement when the Japanese public broadcaster NHK released a complete nine and half hour DVD set of the performance.  (If you want to shop around, the Japanese DVD code is NSDX-13208.)  Amazon Japan sold me a copy – with overnight shipping from Japan, for $140 – less than I have paid for some single bunraku tickets (the box set was released on April 24th, and it was mailed via FedEx from Amazon on April 23rd at 3PM, so that its buyers could have their copies on the next day.  My copy arrived in the US on April 24th – just before 10AM).  But my real delight came when I started watching.

This is no ordinary DVD set – it is a compilation of performances drawn over a period of five decades – including a few classics in black and white:

• Act I Scene 1
      The Imperial Palace
      (filmed in May 1972)
• Act I Scene 2
      The Bank of the Kamo River
       (filmed in September 1996)
• Act I Scene 3
      Transmission of the Secrets
      (filmed in September 1996)
• Act I Scene 4
      Outside the Gate
      (filmed in September 1996)
• Act II Scene 1
      Sweet Words on the Journey
      (filmed in May 1972)
• Act II Scene 2
      Awaiting the Tide at Yasui
      (filmed in May 1972)
• Act II Scene 3
      The Chastising
      (filmed in April 2002)
• Act II Scene 4
      Rosy Breaks the Dawn
      (filmed in January 1983)
• Act II Scene 5
      Sugawara’s Farewell
      (filmed in January 1983)
• Act III Scene 1
      Breaking the Carriage Apart
      (filmed in 1959)
• Act III Scene 2
      Sake from a Tea-whisk
      (filmed in April 1989)
• Act III Scene 3
      The Quarrel
      (filmed in April 1989)
• Act III Scene 4
      The Death of Sakuramaru
      (filmed in April 1989)
• Act IV Scene 1
      Mount Tenpai
      (filmed in April 2002)
• Act IV Scene 2
      North Saga Village
      (filmed in May 1972)
• Act IV Scene 3
      The New Student
      (filmed in April 1989)
• Act IV Scene 4
      The Village School
      (filmed in April 1989)
• Act V
      Extraordinary Events at the Palace
      (filmed in May 1972)

This extraordinary juxtaposition of filmings from 1959, 1972, 1989, 1996, and 2002 not only allows one to see a complete play that is almost never performed complete, it allows us to compare classic performances from across three generations.  The effect is intoxicating.

The box set includes a full copy of the script – in Japanese.  Fortunately, the DVDs include full English subtitles.  The box set is region-free and NTSC, so it can play on any American DVD player.  Because of the age of the films, all footage is in 4:3 format.

Most likely, this box set will be too expensive for casual purchase, but it is bound to appeal to aficionados.  But I do encourage you to ask your library to acquire a copy – watching this set allows you to experience something you are unlikely to ever encounter – a complete performance with expert troupes of this classic play.

Shakespeare on DVD news

IAN MCKELLAN’S KING LEAR

The Trevor Nunn/Ian McKellen King Lear (shown last week in the US) is coming out on DVD in the US on April 21 (current Amazon price $22.49).  The work is currently available both on DVD and Blu-Ray in the UK (the Amazon price for both is £12.98, minus the VAT refund if you are ordering from the US).  I liked this production quite a bit, but Louise Kennedy (in the Boston Globe) states that it is merely “pretty decent”:

For better and worse, this isn't a film of the live performance, but an adaptation made especially for television. It’s better because codirectors Trevor Nunn (who helmed the stage version) and Chris Hunt can use the strengths of TV, such as closeups and intimately pitched conversational tones - ideal for the intrigues and family quarrels swirling around Shakespeare's aging king. But it’s worse because it robs us of the chance to see McKellen as a stage actor, rather than as the familiar filmic presence of, say, Lord of the Rings. More troublingly, it also transforms Lear from one of the world's great plays into a pretty decent TV movie. . . . That tradeoff, along with some fairly heavy cutting in key scenes and some odd choices in others - showing us the Fool’s hanging, for example, though Shakespeare has Lear mention it only late in the day - diminishes the power of this performance. Still, it’s better than not having McKellen's Lear at all.

AGE OF KINGS

The classic BBC Age of Kings series (15+ hours presenting the Richard II, Henry IV (parts 1 and 2), Henry V, Henry VI (parts 1, 2, and 3), Richard III is being released tomorrow on DVD in the US (Amazon price $34.99).  J. Hoberman in the New York Times gives a review and a personal memory of watching the series as a child:

A 15-part chronicle that drew upon Richard II, the two-part Henry IV, Henry V, the seldom staged three-part Henry VI and Richard III, the project was conceived by Peter Dews, a 30-year-old stage director and former schoolmaster, who persuaded the BBC to embark upon its first extended Shakespeare series. Mr. Dews’s production would be additionally remarkable for being broadcast live, with a continuing cast of young, largely unknown players, including Sean Connery as the fiery Hotspur, Robert Hardy (known these days as Harry Potter’s minister of magic, Cornelius Fudge) as Prince Hal and Judi Dench in the role of his flirtatious future bride, Katherine of France.

Mr. Dews divided the cycle into 75-minute episodes, each with a dramatic title — The Hollow Crown, The Band of Brothers, Uneasy Lies the Head — and an opening fanfare composed by the master of the queen’s music, Arthur Bliss. Cuts were made, particularly in Henry VI, the actors’ delivery was rapid and prompted by a percussive score, even a bit rushed.  The mise-en-scène was modest, if not frugal; the action was staged on an artfully cramped set that served variously as royal bedchamber, battlefield and Eastcheap tavern. There seems to have been only two cameras. Close-ups were common, and a number of scenes were shot as if through a window or against a grille.

In short, An Age of Kings was quintessential early television, immediate and intimate. (“Great men in small rooms,” was Mr. Dews’s motto.) The shows were broadcast live in Britain, beginning in the spring of 1959. If this was Shakespeare as soap opera, the British critics did not complain. On the contrary: reviews were supportive, praising both the acting and the direction. (“You are certain to have seen far, far less good at the Old Vic,” a reviewer for The Observer wrote.) The first BBC series imported to America, An Age of Kings would be telecast in the United States in a somewhat more cinematic form as a series of edited kinescopes, black-and-white 16-millimeter films shot off the original television monitor. . . .

Viewed today An Age of Kings bears little resemblance to public television as we know it. There’s nothing genteel about Mr. Dews’s production; there are no elegant drawing rooms or scenic locations. The series’s success may have made television safe for Masterpiece Theater, but its true successors are Mad Men and The Wire, serial dramas that strain the confines of the small screen with their large characters, compelling situations and narrative density, if not the power of Shakespearean English.

On the same day, there is a US DVD release of Christopher Marlowe’s Edward II (Amazon price $13.49) starring Ian McKellan, filmed from the 1969 Edinburgh Festival production.  This production was notorious for including the first kiss between two men on British television.  (This is not to be confused Derek Jarman’s affected 1991 film version.

JOHN BARTON’S PLAYING SHAKESPEARE

The DVD set of a legendary set of acting workshops is coming out on June 2 (Amazon price:  $71.99). Previously, the sessions were available in video tape in very expensive editions (it did have a showing on educational television in the early 80’s).  The workshops are lead by John Barton of the Royal Shakespeare Company and featuring actors such as Peggy Ashcroft, Judi Dench, Ben Kingsley, Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart, and David Suchet.  An edited transcript of the sessions was released as a book.

DAVID TENNANT’S HAMLET

The Telegraph is reporting that David Tennant’s aborted Hamlet will be coming out on DVD:

The 37-year-old Dr. Who actor and the entire cast of the RSC production are preparing to make a film version of the play in June to record for posterity his portrayal, which was described by some as the greatest Hamlet of his generation.   Speaking at a lunch held at the Haymarket Hotel, Oliver Ford Davies, 69, who was nominated for his portrayal of Polonius, tells me: “We are intending to film it over two or three weeks in June. It won’t be a full feature film as there isn’t time but it will certainly be more than just the filming of the stage. It will be fantastic to work together again.”

(HT:  Shakesepare Geek)

David Tennant also participated in a reading of some of the Sonnets recorded by Naxos.  The CD is coming out shortly (Amazon price $11.01) or via download for £6.00.  Here is an audio sample:  Sonnet 2.

Das Kapital on stage

There are numerous productions of Das Kapital coming to a stage near you.

In Beijing (see also here): 

Drawing inspiration from a best-selling Japanese manga adaptation of Das Kapital, Chinese theater producers are planning to bring Marx's masterpiece to the stage.

Yang Shaolin, general manager of the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Center, told the Wen Hui Bao that, together with Fudan University economics professor Zhang Jun and other experts, he is preparing a dramatization of Das Kapital. They've already decided on a director: He Nian, who directed the stage adaptation of the hit martial-arts spoof My Own Swordsman (武林外传).

He Nian says he will combine elements from animation, Broadway musicals, and Las Vegas stage shows to bring Marx's economic theories to life as a trendy, interesting, and educational play.

In Tokyo:

Delivering this timely staging is the cutting-edge Berlin-based Rimini Protokoll company, beloved of audiences at last year's Tokyo International Festival (TIF) for its searing exploration of the lives of model-train obsessives in Mnemopark. This time, as TIF morphs into Festival/Tokyo, the troupe is back with its 2007 masterpiece, Karl Marx: Capital, Volume I.

But there is more – look for revivals of this classic 1931 version:

As bizarre as this may sound, a theatrical Das Kapital is not an unprecedented undertaking. Japanese writer, translator, and civil servant Sakamoto Masaru (阪本勝) wrote a mammoth stage adaptation of Marx's masterpiece (戯曲資本論, 1931) that was translated into Chinese by Fei Mingjun and published in 1949 as A Dramatic Capital (戏剧资本论).

In comic books, Das Kapital is on top of the charts in Japan (see also here).

(If you are interested in experience Das Kapital in the old fashioned way – and in English translation, I recommend this volume.)