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LOVE SUICIDES AT SONEZAKI. By Mon zaemon Chikamatsu. Directed by Nakamura Ganjiro III. Shochiku Grand Kabuki Chikamatsu-za (Chikamatsu Theatre), Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts, Los Angeles. 21 June 2005.
The Chikamatsu Theatre of Osaka, Japan, offers flawless, thrilling Grand Kabuki to the West; more importantly, the theatre introduces Nakamura Ganjiro III to the American stage. Ganjiro is a world-class onnagata (female role specialist) who, at seventy-three years of age, has performed the courtesan role of Ohatsu in Love Suicides at Sonezaki 1,225 times. Ganjiro's performance of Ohatsu epitomizes the refined, gentle style of kamigata kabuki while promoting the domestic literary dramas that make kamigata possible, specifically those of Monzaemon Chikamatsu (1653-1725).
Ganjiro becomes Ohatsu by concealing his masculine body beneath layers of purple and brown kimono. The checkered gold-and-black obi of the courtesan wraps his waist. Within a frame of black hair and ivory combs is a face so white, spectators can easily read the feints and flickers of eyes, brows, nostrils, and lips. Ohatsu resembles the lavish porcelain dolls of the bunraku puppet theatre (from which kabuki derives), but Ganjiro's disciplined body and measured voice provide citations of femininity that bring Ohatsu convincingly to life. Ohatsu can move with the sinuous seduction of a refined courtesan, or hold perfectly still for striking tableaux. Combined with Ganjiro's vocal range and fluidity, this disciplined movement gives Ohatsu hypnotic power. She...