DANCE REVIEW : A Taste of Traditional Farce at Japan America Theatre

Kyogen were originally comic interludes performed during programs of austere Noh drama in feudal Japan. However, nobody laughed at the Japan America Theatre on Saturday when the celebrated Kyogen master Mansaku Nomura danced the title role of “Sambaso.”

Part of a longer ritual that unites Noh and Kyogen, the reverent and the earthy, this “Sambaso” remained a danced consecration, ending with the masked Nomura shaking golden hand-bells over every part of the square stage platform and its entrance corridor upstage left.

Earlier, however, the work incorporated plenty of flashy steps (including jumps) and virtuoso manipulations of the dancer’s long-sleeved robe, as well as a solo for another symbolic character (Shichisaku Ogawa). Spiritual power became embodied here in forceful stamping, gutsy singing and poses full of fierce majesty.

Nature emblems on the dancers’ costumes invoked fertility, longevity and good fortune while the hypnotic sense of concentration and superb control of both weight and shape in Nomura’s performance dominated even the intense drum, flute and vocal accompaniment.

Earlier in the evening, the 14-member Nomura company presented “Futari Bakama,” an episode from the collection of classic Kyogen sitcoms about the monumental stupidity of sons-in-law. Speech dominated this one-act farce, but dance provided its climax and biggest laughs. Both plot and dancing focused on the hakama, a formal garment something like overalls with long leggings that trail under and behind the wearer’s feet.

Mansaku Nomura didn’t appear, but his eldest son, Takeshi, and his brother, Mannosuke, both played major roles. Indeed, Takeshi made into inspired physical comedy every one of his character’s clumsy attempts to walk, turn and kneel while wearing the hakama. Mannosuke supplied sly vocal and facial commentary on the situation, with Yukio Ishida effective as their increasingly exasperated host and Haruo Tsukizaki artful as the wily servant Taro Kaja (a fixture of the Kyogen repertory).

The program booklet for the four-city American tour supplied a full translation of “Futari Bakama,” but only two sentences of explanation for “Sambaso.” A partially recast “Sambaso” and a different Taro Kaja comedy were scheduled for the final local performance on Sunday.