Japan's Draroa of Tragedy and Tear?

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 109, 4 November 1939, Page 20

Japan's Draroa of Tragedy and Tear?

THE Japanese people rarely show their emotions in real life, but they are extraordinarily emo- .. _ . tional. in the land of make-believe, writes Kiinpei Sheba from Tokio, to the "Chicago Tribune." A sorrowful scene in real life, such as might in America cause women to have hysterics and men to weep unashamed, will be confronted in Japan with perfect composure. But when the same scene is enacted on the stage the audiences invariably break down. Perhaps this acts as a sort of safety valve to release the pent-up emotions of the people

. There is more weeping . among audiences in Japanese theatres than anywhere outside of'a funeral. The Japanese ;love to suffer—in the land of make-believe' - ,

Consequently revenge and selfsacrifice rather than love are the outstanding themes of stage and screen plays, w These are better vehicles as tear wringers. Playwrights as well as actors; go to- absurd lengths to make the audiences weep.

One of the most popular modern plays is based on the self-sacrifice of a brother, for his Wayward sister. The girl as she grows into" womanhood makes a mis-step. 'She is about to become the mother of a child whose father .disappears. As. the story develops:l the brother, is .shown perpetually scolding his sister in front of their parents^ often becoming intoxicated; and going out with women of questionable morals and otherwise disgracing himself in the most shameful manner.

One day the brother meets the father of his sister's child. He beats the maii ; Until he is almost .dead. The scene is ■ highly dramatic, and here for the first > time the real reason for the brother's • behaviour towards his sister becomes apparent to the audience. To divert the anger to his parents from his sis- ! ter to himself he had purposely gone out of his way. to mistreat her and to disgrace himself. Thus does he convince his parents that he is even worse than his sister. This turns his parents? sympathy in her direction. When the audience catches on to this it breaks down completely. But this is not enough. It wants to suffer some more. So the girl is made. to discover that the father of her child is not the mean fellow everyone imagines. He has excellent reasons for disappearing temporarily. Now he is in a position to return to the village and marry the girl. Although she loves the man dearly, the girl refuses to become his wife. She tells him she hates the sight of him. The true reason is that she has become a geisha girl and dishonoured herself. She does not want the man she loves to be married to this sort of j woman. In short, she sacrifices her I happiness so that the man she loves 'may be happy. The curtain falls with everybody having a splendid cry. This may sound absurd to Western readers, but it at least gives an insight. into the strange psychology of the Japanese people. , . j An interesting feature of Japan's I classical theatre, the > kabuki, is that j the cast is made up.entirely of male.

players. All feminine roles are acted by impersonators. This is ironical, for it was an actress named Okuni ,who created the kabuki some four centuries ago. . Soon thereafter, because of the immorality among actors and actresses, the presence of women was banned on the stage, and since then, for more than three centuries, only men have been permitted to appear on the classical ■ stage.

Okuni's spirit, which-must have rebelled at such treatment, is now having its sweet revenge. The kabuki has been dealt its severest blow by a new type of shows which are cast entirely of female players. These shows are extremely popular with Japanese women and have cut deeply into the revenues of the traditional theatre.

Female impersonators are trained for their work from early childhood. Up to eighy years ago these actors dressed in female costume off the stage as well as on it and every effort was made by them to develop and perfect feminine traits, just as male impersonators among today's actresses walk the streets in'-trousers and with their tresses clipped.

Japan's classical kabuki is fundamentally, different from Western drama. It is not acting pure and simple. For full appreciation of the kabuki one must prepare oneself for a trip to a land of dreams—to a land of poetic vision, according to Shutaro Miyake, an authority on the subject. One's mind, he says, should be prepared to receive the poetic and beautiful.; ' • .