ABSTRACT
Noh, Japan’s 600-year-old classical dance-drama, has attracted Western fascination for more than a century, but in decades there has been a surge in such intercultural activities. Noh texts are rarely wholly new creations, but based on widely known myths, legends, and historic incident. Zeami, the master playwright, theorist and performer instrumental in creating the refined noh style in the fourteenth century, suggests that aspiring playwrights seek sources for their plays in classics such as the warrior epic Tale of the Heike or romantic adventures of Tale of Genji. Ophelia premiered in 1987 at the Nashinoki Shrine stage in Japan, was revived later that same year and again in 1989 at the Kawamura Noh Stage in Kyoto, and the Ohtsuki Noh Theatre in Osaka. Noh has been perfected over six centuries and twenty-five generations of master performers. To charge into this supple, ancient art and expect to transform it overnight is foolhardy.
