Scripts from real life

Japanese theatre

Theatre is a true reflection of the society and proving this right were the kyogen artistes Miyake Tokuro and Izumi Motoya from Japan who were in the City recently. Metrolife talks to these artistes about the art form and more.

The themes that kyogen portrays are from day-to-day life. Miyake says, “Our scripts come right out of real life and elucidates everyday experiences of the average man.” Talking about Indian theatre, she says, “I would love to watch Indian theatre but haven’t got a chance to be a part of it yet. I’ve seen photos and videos of kathakali and I feel that there are many similarities between kyogen and kathakali.”

So how much time does it take to prepare for every performance? “Since we’ve enough practice, we just start a month ahead of each performance for to get other preparations done,” says Izumi while Miyake adds, “Kyogen does not have make-up, we just have different costumes for different roles. Special skills are required to dress up for an act and we dress each other up. Since we have experience, we’re able to do it fast. This is an art of its own.”

Opining about the difference between teaching the art and performing on stage, Izumi details, “Even while training a student, I have to perform the real thing in its true essence. So it’s like training oneself and performing daily. When I’m performing for an audience, I’m showcasing the age-old tradition but when teaching, I’m churning out the future of kyogen.”

Both the artistes started performing at a tender age. Ask them if it was out of passion or because of lineage, and the artistes say in unison, “Kyogen’s a family tradition. If a family practices kyogen, the family belongs to kyogen and their children practise the same. The question of practicing it out of interest does not arise.”

“There are 254 different roles and stories that we’ve performed. Some roles are very easy to perform and some are difficult. As professionals, we’ve done many pieces,” says Miyake. “One of the most difficult roles that I had to perform was that of a fox, and I had to spend a lot of time practising for the same,” adds Izumi.

Having acted in movies and television programmes, how different is stage from screen? “It’s a totally different experience. The art is shown in its age-old format on stage. But in a movie, it has to be matched according to the trends of the day,” says Izumi.

Ask them if to keep the tradition of 600 years intact, whether they stay away from modern influences like technology and Miyake and Izumi break into smiles, “Not at all. We wear Western attires, and we love our updated phones. We are able to balance it all, since we understand and appreciate the art.”

So how closely connected are India and Japan? “From the outside, we might differ a lot. The costumes vary, there’s difference in languages and appearances. But the desire to save and preserve age-old traditions exist in both these countries, and that makes a deep connection,” says Miyake.

Quiz them about Bangalore or whether they had heard about the City before heading here, and Miyake says with a smile, “Yes, we have heard of the ‘Silicon Valley of India’.”