live theater long ago and today - Kyoto's Kabuki-za

For the past 100 years when artificial dyes and synthetic fabrics, neon, and plastics have made daily life filled with color, and with semi-conductors making battery powered sources of light and color ever more visually stimulating, people's awareness and arousal by color has been dulled. So the fantastical costumes, make-up, and effects of the pre-electronic and pre-plastic period of kabuki theater seems to make less of an impression on the audiences of now.

kabukiza in Kyoto

This clip from the national Culture Day holiday in Kyoto shows the front of the theater with its flashes of the metallic petals flickering in an eye-catching display not normally seen on a building facade; goodness knows what happens during the typhoon season!

With the relentless pace of innovations in consumer electronics, personal transportation, and software apps for mobile phones, it is nice to see that performance art forms like kabuki continue to attract audiences - whether it is first-timers and foreigners, or it is life-long fans who follow the stage careers of their favorite actors. Perhaps there is some element of nostalgia for pre-electronic, pre-telecommunication times. And maybe, too, there is another element of wanting to financially supporting older art forms for its own sake, whether one is deeply involved or is a more distant supporter. Whatever the mix of motivations in the audience, or even within one person, the productions continue to be made and tickets continue to sell.