PSU students to stage Japanese kyogen play

Students from Portland States’s Traditional Japanese Drama course will perform four kyogen plays in the Lincoln Hall Studio Theater at 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 9. Admission is free.

PSU’s Department of World Languages and Literature faculty member Lawrence Kominz instructs the class, in which students study the traditional theater of Japan, culminating in a final performance at the term’s end.

“My students get an ‘A’ for their performance if they can induce many spontaneous bursts of laughter from the audience,” Dr. Kominz said.

Kyogen, which can be translated as “wild words” or “mad speech,” is an ancient form of comedic Japanese theater that developed alongside the more dramatic noh style. The slapstick style of kyogen’s farcical physical comedy is often used to soften audiences between acts of dramatic noh performances.

One of the student performers hoping to earn an ‘A’ from Dr. Kominz is 19-year-old freshman and Japanese major Amy Zink.

“There is a huge difference between studying Japanese drama out of a book and performing it,” Zink said. “It’s much more difficult than it seems. When you perform it, you get a sense of what it was like to be in ancient Japan, even if only in a small way.”

One of the four short plays the students will perform is “Tied to a Pole,” which was staged at Lincoln Hall by Kyoto Japan’s Kashu-juki in March. The PSU Center for Japanese Studies hosted the full-cast Japanese noh troupe, which paired the comedic kyogen play with a dramatic noh performance of “Lady Aoi.”

Unlike the March performance, this staging of “Tied to a Pole” will be in English, Dr. Kominz said.

“In ‘Tied to a Pole’ a servant is tied to the stave that he’s so proud of wielding as a weapon,” Kominz said. “The master ties him up so he won’t steal the house wine while the master is away. Will this bondage work? I think you know the answer, but the ingenuity of the servant is fun to watch.”

The intimate space of Lincoln Hall’s room 115 studio theater should make the comedy, which is largely physical, easy for all to enjoy. Student Amy Zink is quick to point out, however, that kyogen is not simply a matter of slapstick.

“The physical comedy isn’t the difficult part,” Zink said. “It’s the stylized movements of basic kyogen that are hard to master. The way we walk, the way we stand—it all has to be very precise. Physically, that’s the hardest part.”

While kyogen is a theater tradition that involves highly stylized movements, its content is not as symbolic or as solemn as Noh. The themes often involve bumbling servants, thwarted in efforts to outwit their masters, who nonetheless prevail in having a good time. This good time translates well to the audience, as Kashu-juku’s “Tied to a Pole” was very well received, garnering rapturous applause from a full house in Lincoln’s main hall.

Zink, who will be featured in two of the four kyogen performances scheduled for the evening, was one of those audience members.

“Even when it was in Japanese, the audience, including myself, seemed to really enjoy it,” Zink said. “It’s easily understandable, unlike noh.”

With the hard work and study behind them, Dr. Kominz prepares to direct his students as they complete their journey through ancient Japan’s comedic theater traditions. It’s a journey that Zink believes he’s prepared them well for.

“He’s an amazing director,” Zink said. “He’s patient, but he doesn’t waste time, and he cracks down, but never makes us feel bad about ourselves. Most of all, he really knows his stuff.” ?