Snowden 1!

Morgan Snowden

Theater History

Grant Williams

October 18th, 2017

Atsumori Response

In the very beginning of the play even before the Waki speaks, he follows the traditional

pattern of Not theatre. The Waki walks in through the bridge, acknowledges the shrine on the

back wall, the Waki walks slowly (the art of walking), music plays in the background. His

spacing is so specific and each move he makes is motivated. The Shite and the Waki stand and sit

and converse in their specific spots on the Noh stage. There are Interludes within the script which

was very common and added a light-hearted tone to the very dark, heavy material of the play. So

much of the Atsumori script is exactly traditional.

A lot of the script is written or translated in a way that gives the information of the play in

a very straight forward fashion. To me, it is unappealing but the parts that I did like were in the

imagery poetry in some of the chants, specifically in the chorus’ roles. The part of the show I

specifically liked the best was when the chorus illustrated the movements or dance of Atsumori.

It is one of the only things that separates this warrior play from the rest of the plays written for

Noh Theater. The Noh theater is the art of walking but I am sure that the dance heightened it’s

artistry when performed and was adored by audiences. Dancing adds a quality of emotion that

cannot be expressed through words or song. Done write, I am sure it was the most effective and

emotional part of the show. But the part of the play that I did like was the transformation

between the first role of the Shite (the grass cutter) and the ghost of Atsumori. It gave the play
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the dramatic kick it needed. It is similar to the play in the video of Noh Theater, “Adachigahara”

where the main character turns into a demon in the second half of the show.

Overall, the show was a great piece of art however, I cannot relate to it on an emotional

level, although it’s message is universal. It is a warrior play and I am just not connected to it. I

can appreciate it’s art and take the piece for what it is. The exchange between the Waki and the

Shite at the end before the dance is particularly beautiful to me and even though Atsumori was a

ghost or spirit or what-have-you, I think it was a soft looking spirit mask that must have been

worn. I think the dance is my favorite part of the show and I am sure I would love to experience

this type of theater to culture myself.

Since the mask of Atsumori is one of the only masks talked about in the description of the show,

I would assume that it would be the only one. This is

what i think the ghost of Atsumori looked like. He is a

ghost but not a demon, because he has a sensitive side

to him and is not afraid to show it. Of course he

cannot look like a normal human but I think this

would be a pretty close representation to a ghost and

since he would be the only one masked, it would not

be hard to scare the audience and get the point across

that he is the Ghost of Atsumori.

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This is what I would

picture Rensho to look

like.

This is obviously not a mask or a man but I would

imagine that this depicts the show bests a whole. A

scary exterior with some traits of beauty

(Atsumori’s sensitivity).