Wendy Hammer, age 16, of Concord, N.H., for her question:
CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE JAPANESE NO DRAMA?
Japanese drama has been evolving since about the 7th century. It has been characterized generally by the fusion of dramatic, musical and dance elements. The music and dance, as well as the subjects, settings, costumes and acting styles, were rigidly stylized and, until recent times, offered relatively few realistic or naturalistic qualities.
By the 14th century the theater had developed the No drama, one of its foremost artistic achievements. These No dramas were plays that included solemn dances intended to suggest the deepest emotions of the principal character and were written in the poetic language of the Japanese classics.
A No drama program often included "kyogen," or farces written in colloquial language.
No was brought to the level of great art by the genius of two dramatists, Kanami Kiyotsugu (1333 84) and his son Zeami Motokayo (1363 84) . No was patronized by the Ashikaga shogunate after a shogun saw the boy Zeami perform in 1374.
Zeami developed No drama into refined artistic drama, but after his death it tended to lose its creative vitality and become ritualistic. Many No dramas performed at present are by Zeami. His books of criticism are considered the final authority in discussions of the subject.
No drama was threatened with extinction because of its long connections with the discredited shogunate, but it surviveded the threat and has enjoyed popularity with specialized audiences.
An entire program of No drama traditionally consists of five No plays in poetry with music and four kyogen farces in prose without music, performed alternately.
Kyogen farces feature representational acting and the actors wear neither masks nor makeup. No plays avoid representational accuracy in favor of a symbolic treatment of subjects concerning the world's of the living and the dead.
The principal types of No plays are those dealing with deities, the ghosts of warriors, women with tragic destinies, maa persons and devils or festive spirits. The actors, who often wear masks are richly and elaborately costumed.
The No drama is performed in a theater with the audience seated on two or, less commonly, three sides of a roofed stage. The actors reach the stage by a passageway, called the bridge, which is marked by three pine trees.
The only backdrop is a large painted pine. The scenery consists entirely of impressionistic props suggesting the outlines of a building, a boat or any other object of importance to the play.
Only male actors perform in No dramas. When they play the roles of women or of men whose age is markedly different from their own, they wear masks, many of which are exceptionally beautiful.
The No drama also includes a chorus that sits at one side of the stage and recites for the actors when they dance, but the chorus has no identity in the drama.