Seeing Kabuki theatre has been on our list of things to do while in Japan so Sean wanted to go too. We figured that we'd go together and then try to buy his ticket upon arrival. When we got to the performance hall near Shibuya, we went in the student line together and I asked where I could buy a ticket for Sean. After conferring with her supervisor, the lady checking student IDs and handing out tickets just gave us another ticket for free! I couldn't believe it! We felt very fortunate and excited.
Kabuki theatre is a combination of dance, drama and dialogue. It's famous for elaborate makeup, scenery and dramatic stories. All of the actors are men and several fill the roles of women. We had arrived at 5pm since the show started at 5:30. We had no idea what we were in for, what type of play we were seeing or what the schedule was. Though we were handed a program, it was completely in Japanese but we stayed hopeful that we could follow along with the actions and scenery at least.
The show started promptly at 5:30 and the first thirty minutes appeared to be some kind of dance ritual preparing for war. There was commentary before and after this scene by a male and female announcer who stood off to the side. After this act, there was an intermission of thirty minutes. Sean and I thought that maybe we were already halfway through the show! Boy, were we wrong.
The next few acts consisted of various men dancing with fans in what looked like fighting scenes. There were singers and musicians off to each side of the stage who provided the background music. These dancing scenes went on until 7:30 when there was another intermission of 30 minutes. At this point we started to question how much was left and I began to be suspicious when I went to the restroom and saw hordes of audience members chowing down on food from the hall vendors as well as on food that they brought.
The show started up again at 8pm and this time it was pure theatre with dramatic dialogue and acting. It was extremely hard to follow along but there was some romance, some murders and plenty of fighting. Apparently, there was also some humor along the way as everybody laughed except us who felt a bit lost. At about 9pm when our stomachs were growling, we considered leaving but decided to stick it out. The show finally ended at 9:30 at which point we quite literally jogged out of the hall in search of food.
Though I'm glad we were able to experience Kabuki, neither of us are too eager to sit through a four hour performance again. Since we had always wanted to try Taco Bell in Japan, we headed to the only one which was near the performance hall and dined on overpriced tacos, nachos and beers (they sell beer at Taco Bell in Japan!). Overall, it was a funny evening and date night - though the culture was interesting the Japanese style American fast food was the undeniable highlight.
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