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Conflicted Loyalties in "English Kabuki": Portland's English Kabuki Revenge of the 47 Samurai (Kanadehon Chūshingura)
- Asian Theatre Journal
- University of Hawai'i Press
- Volume 35, Number 1, Spring 2018
- pp. 133-153
- 10.1353/atj.2018.0017
- Article
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Abstract:
Portland State University presented an English version of the kabuki classic Kanadehon Chūshingura in February 2016 under the direction of Laurence Kominz. This article examines the challenges and rewards in training in Asian theatre forms in the American classrooms, and those particular to mounting this play, including the problems inherent in English-language adaptation. A product of the tensions of goals of Authenticity, Education, and Entertainment, the production drew on multiple sources of authority, foremost the kabuki original and seminal 1979 University of Hawaii production. The production appears to have succeeded as a learning experience for students and entertainment for general audiences, a creative reconstruction pointing towards a new mode of producing English kabuki.