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A little while ago, in an effort to find something interesting to do, I discovered that the V&A in London, has regular sessions, both online and in person, on subjects that I might find interesting. Wanting to discover more, I booked onto one dealing with the Nō (or Noh) Theatre of Japan. It was on today and I sat learning about it for five and a half, very enjoyable, hours.
Given I was also supposed to see the doctor today, I was a bit worried that I’d miss the discussion of Japanese theatre but, because of my idiotic brain, I had the doctor day wrong. I am, in fact, going tomorrow. Fortunately I checked on the medical site before we left the house.
And so, comfortably relieved, I took my seat and learned all about the enigmatic theatrical form called Noh.
There were five people teaching us about Noh. First up was Ashley Thorpe (he’s on the left in the photo above). He is very knowledgeable having not only studied but also learned Noh. After telling us about the history of Noh, which begins somewhen in the 14th century and lasts up to the present day, he was joined by the two women above and they took us through the music and dance of the theatrical form.
Ashley is not only a practitioner. He has also co-written, composed, directed and choreographed, an English language Noh play called Emily. It is about Emily Wilding Davison, the English suffragette who, in 1913, ran in front of the King’s horse at The Derby, and was killed. The Noh play was from the point of view of the jockey, Herbert Jones.
I should say that Emma, who was sitting on my lap for one part of the lecture, was not enamoured of the strident flute emanating from my laptop at one point.
Honestly, I didn’t think it worked, being in English. This opinion was reflected in a question from the audience regarding the difference between the two languages. As a distinctly Japanese form of theatre, it lost something.
Anyway, it was most enlightening and, dare I say, enjoyable. Possibly, my favourite bit was Ashley’s excellent quip about the leading actor of Noh plays. He had a slide up on the screen when he pointed out that the main actor was called the Sh-tay but spelled Shite, which had nothing to do with the quality of the performance.
Next came Anna Jackson, the head of V&A south-east Asian textiles, to show us three Noh costumes that the museum has in its collection.
Anna took us through the weaving process behind the making of these amazingly intricate outfits. She also told us about meeting the amazing Yamaguchi Yasujirō who started weaving when he was 16 and didn’t retire until he was 96, living until he was 104. She put a photo of him up on the screen and I have to say, he looked a very jolly chap.
I wouldn’t have thought I’d be as fascinated with Japanese weaving as I was. The process is laborious and super fiddly. The results are extraordinary. For instance, to create gold in the silk, sheets of very fine Japanese paper are painted with gold leaf which is then cut into thread thick strips which are, ultimately, woven in. Now that is amazing! It also explained why Anna was wearing gloves to handle the outfits.
Finally, the highlight of the day, for me anyway, was the wooden mask carver whose name I, unfortunately, did not get. Although the presenter said it twice, it wasn’t written on the big screen and, not being Japanese, I was left bereft. Which is really sad because he was brilliant.
He showed us how he makes his masks, what they are used for and how long they take. Most important, he told us, was the wood, Hinoki. Actually, that’s not entirely true. He believes that long, detailed discussions with the performer ordering the mask is super important. It gives him the almost spiritual lead-in to what the mask must be.
He involves the actor throughout the entire mask making process which he also demonstrated for us. He sat, cross-legged on the floor and started chiselling, sawing and generally chipping away at a block of wood. He stopped after a while, explaining that he wasn’t going to complete the mask because we’d all be there for about three days.
He was as entertaining as he was informative. A master craftsman and a most excellent and entertaining teacher.
Incidentally, the oldest extant Noh theatre is on the magical island of Miyajima. We visited the island back in 2017 but, at the time, did not know about the theatre. This, of course, means we have to return.
Obviously, we also have to return to see a Noh play in performance. After all, we saw Kabuki in Tokyo and we saw Butoh at Ytterjärrna. Noh on Miyajima is obviously the next step.
