Dancing Noh and Kabuki in Japanese Shakespeare Productions

Abstract

This article examines how three modern Japanese directors have interpolated Noh and Kabuki dance into their productions of Shakespearean plays: Yukio Ninagawa’s NINAGAWA Macbeth (1980); Satoshi Miyagi’s Othello (Noh style, 2005); and Yoshihiro Kurita’s Hamlet (2007). In synthesizing traditions from two contemporaneous, yet culturally disparate, theatrical forms, these directors both honored and disrupted the conventions of Shakespeare, Noh, and Kabuki. The inclusion of Noh and Kabuki movement in these performances is not simply a decorative divertissement, but serves as a vital language for cross-cultural encounter.