Dance and Chant in Zeami's Dramaturgy: Building Blocks for a Theatre of Tone

Contemporary performers of Japanese no theatre can be elusive on the subject of their art. Published commentaries on the technical aspects of performance are not uncommon, but few performers seem willing to put their thoughts into writing on larger issues such as the overall appeal of the no art or what it is that they as performers strive to communicate on stage. Performing a no play and talking about performance involve two quite different sets of skills, and the ability to give a brilliant performance certainly does not depend on the ability to generalize about the experience in discursive prose. Thus when the rare performer comes along who is adept at both doing and writing about the art, those writings are precious indeed. Kanze Hisao (1925-1978) was such a performer by all accounts. Reputed to have been a gifted actor, he was also a committed and eloquent chronicler of his experience on the no stage-ground that critics often fear to tread. Hisao makes revealing comments on what the experience of performing a play is ideally like: