This weekend I attended a free Noh performance in Shimabara (the southern peninsula of Nagasaki prefecture). Noh is a very traditional classical drama. This particular production was supposed to be outdoors, lit only with bonfires surrounding the stage, known as Takigi O-noh. However, due to the rain, it was moved into an indoor location.
So, as you know, where most people have problems falling asleep, I have problems staying awake. It's not hard to imagine what happened; dark, warm, incomprehensible....as hard as I fought my eyes would not cooperate. Unfortunately I was dozing in and out for the first 4 plays and was out cold for most of the final (and apparently, best) one.
I did see some of it though. The night started out with some short performances by a children's noh group which was really cute. They also were the main actors in one of the 5 primary plays about a fisherman.
Two of the plays had live music with drums and flutes, which was... interesting. At points I questioned whether it was music or just noise, but it was cool nonetheless.
The final play, about demons and ghosts, featured special masks used in noh. Depending on the angle the actor positions his head, the expression on the mask changes. I didn't actually see this (sleeping) and didn't learn about it until after. So maybe, if I ever see it again, I'll keep my eye out (and open) for it.
Noh actors manipulate their voices in such a way that makes singing/speaking sound pretty goofy and they used very classical Japanese, so even Japanese people had a hard time understanding.
All in all, I'm glad I had this opportunity to see it and I am pretty annoyed I couldn't stay awake. However, not sure if I'd go out of my way to see it again.
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