A Guide to the Japanese Stage: From Traditional to Cutting Edge

Japanese theater is vibrant and exciting, with a wide range of unique genres to be enjoyed by both visitors to Japan and on tour at arts and drama festivals and theaters worldwide. From the stately refinement of No and the colorful spectacle of Kabuki to the avant-garde of the shogekijo and adaptations of Shakespeare or mainstream musicals, the world of the Japanese performing arts is thriving and innovative.

A Guide to the Japanese Stage covers all the main genres as performed today, from traditional to cutting edge. A brief history and introduction to the features of each genre is accompanied by recommendations of entertaining plays that are accessible to non-Japanese audiences. Brief synopses are provided for many often-performed plays, and the best known companies, actors, playwrights, and directors are highlighted. The text is illustrated with 32 color pages and over 150 black-and-white photographs, and includes information on theater listings, how to purchase tickets, and which plays are available on DVD in English.

This guide is invaluable for anyone keen to experience Japanese theater firsthand, and will provide additional insights for students of Japanese theater and literature.

RONALD CAVAYE is a concert pianist who studied in London, Hannover, and Budapest. He was a professor of piano at the Musashino Academy of Music in Tokyo from 1979 to 1986, and a founding narrator of the English-language "Earphone Guide" commentaries at Tokyo's Kabuki-za and National Theatre. He performs regularly in Japan and the United States, has written two books on music education, and penned articles for the Edinburgh Festival, the Paris Autumn Festival, and The Times. He is the author of Kabuki: A Pocket Guide and has translated for the University of Hawaii Press's Kabuki Plays on Stage.

PAUL GRIFFITH is currently pursuing a doctorate in Japanese Theater History at Wadham College, Oxford University. He was an associate professor at Saitama University's Education Faculty for ten years, and has also worked on the Kabuki woodblock print collection in the Far East Department of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. He is a translator for NHK Television's bilingual series Japanese Traditional Performing Arts, and since 1985 has been a translator and narrator of the English-language "Earphone Guide" commentaries for both Kabuki and Bunraku at Tokyo's Kabuki-za and National Theatre.

AKIHIKO SENDA is a professor of drama at Shizuoka University of Art and Culture, and the president of the International Association of Theater Critics (lATC) Japan Center. He is the best-known theater critic in Japan, regularly writing reviews for newspapers and magazines. He has also published several books on theater and musicals, including The Voyage of Contemporary Japanese Theatre, which was awarded an Art Encouragement Prize from the government.