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Word Bird: April 2012

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Wednesday, 25 April 2012. In honour of the fact that I can now get a nice sound out of my new noh flute. I decided to introduce my drawing hand to the noh 'orchestra'. First, of course, the flute - the 'noh-kan'. The flute player's music opens every noh play, and signals most of the character entrances and special dances. The musician always sits (Japanese style, for the whole duration of the play - OW) at the back of stage left. A big drum that makes a clicking noise. Right is kotsuzumi. At the Kita sch...

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Word Bird: Noh Notebook: Disembodied Voices

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Friday, 22 February 2013. Noh Notebook: Disembodied Voices. A play about a dead woman, Princess Shokushi, trapped in the living world by her former lover's obsession with her - is, like Motomezuka. Which I'd seen the previous week. Not an easy play to watch. All 'woman' category plays are known for being long, demanding and sad: I find it hard to stay attentive. But, if I manage to give myself over wholly to the strangeness of the play, suddenly everything seems more profound. View my complete profile.

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Word Bird: National Noh Theatre: Happy 30th Birthday!

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Sunday, 3 February 2013. National Noh Theatre: Happy 30th Birthday! The National Noh Theatre has come of age: it is 30 years old this year. I knew it but hadn't taken much notice until I went in to drop off a set of proofs for the series I'm editing ( Book 2, at last! And saw countless posters for this years' Japan Arts Council sponsored noh and kyogen programmes. The info is all on the National Noh Theatre's website. But the posters are much more beautiful:. Three on the second. View my complete profile.

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Word Bird: May 2012

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Sunday, 27 May 2012. The Candymen of Harajuku. Last week, armed with a baking tin, a tiny bit of cocoa powder and lots of sweets, I made a Very Hungry Caterpillar. Birthday cake. It was delicious, but it wasn't beautiful enough for me. Next, as Super Monkey. Practice, I made a very accurate and very banana-y Banana Cake:. And I found them. I watched them, delighted, as they rolled out huge slabs of hot, pink sugar. Then, they rolled. Perhaps 'home made' is best, after all. Thursday, 24 May 2012. The inst...

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Word Bird: February 2013

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Monday, 25 February 2013. Park Theatre, Finsbury Park. Finsbury Park has a new theatre. I've seen the dream. And now, I've seen the reality! Walking through the site this morning, I got that wonderful fizzing feeling you only get when something inspires you completely. All the signs were there:. 1) Grinning like an idiot. 2) thinking about exciting new productions. 3) taking photos like it's going out of fashion (which it probably is). 4) more grinning like an idiot. Friday, 22 February 2013. Not an easy...

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Word Bird: Noh Notebook: Noh Goodbyes

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Friday, 15 February 2013. Noh Notebook: Noh Goodbyes. Five weeks and almost a year's worth of noh learning after my return to Tokyo, on 2nd February, my final weekend of noh on this trip arrived, inevitably. Like last time (and equally unsuccessfully) I tried to take a true likeness of that magical 5-metre square with me, in pen and paper:. Then, for good measure, I did the same thing in neon:. I savoured the opening notes of the flute's oshirabe,. In a line along the back:. View my complete profile.

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Word Bird: January 2013

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Friday, 25 January 2013. Masks at an Exhibition. At exhibitions, my staying power is short. Half an hour, and then however big the exhibition is, I want to be in the gift shop. But, at a huge noh exhibition held in a Ginza department store to celebrate Zeami's 650th anniversary, I broke my own rule and stayed for over an hour! About the actor's relationship with the mask, an interview with Udaka Michishige, an important shite. Main actor in the Kongo. All this, from one exhibition? Monday, 21 January 2013.

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Word Bird: Park Theatre, Finsbury Park

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Monday, 25 February 2013. Park Theatre, Finsbury Park. Finsbury Park has a new theatre. I've seen the dream. And now, I've seen the reality! Walking through the site this morning, I got that wonderful fizzing feeling you only get when something inspires you completely. All the signs were there:. 1) Grinning like an idiot. 2) thinking about exciting new productions. 3) taking photos like it's going out of fashion (which it probably is). 4) more grinning like an idiot. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom).

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Word Bird: June 2012

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Monday, 25 June 2012. Sights, Smells and Gateways to Hell, Hokkaido. I saw a lot while I was in Hokkaido (the Northernmost island of Japan) last week. Some places, like the Ryusei and Ginga waterfalls. In Daisetsuzan National Park's Sounkyo Gorge. Were so dazzling I couldn't contain my excitement. This was taken just before I danced (yes, danced. Down about 30 flights of stairs:. Other highlights of the natural world included ann extremely large pine cone. Saturday, 23 June 2012. My abiding memory of Tok...