Kabuki

I'm kicking myself. Having just attended my first ever kabuki performance — Yoshitsune and the Thousand Cherry Trees at Sadler's Wells in London — I'm annoyed that I never went in Tokyo. Yes, I was busy with work. But the truth is, I thought it would be boring: long, drawn out scenes in impenetrable ancient language with droning music and song. I should have known better.

The production, featuring Ebizo Ichikawa XI, was a perfectly balanced visual, musical and dramatic confection. I loved the acrobatic battle scenes, the little bits of stage 'magic' that made characters pop up where you weren't expecting them, the exquisite beauty of the costumes and sets. But what struck me most was how familiar it all was. The conventions of kabuki, the imagery, the dramatic poses, have so insinuated themselves into Japanese culture over the 400+ years of its existence that I have seen them everywhere...in advertising, on television, in cinema and even in the way people relate to one another.

Having been so focussed on modern Japan and its post-Meiji economic and political history, I have neglected some of the cultural traditions that would round out my understanding. I'll be sure to plan my next visit to Tokyo around the kabuki season.

Published by Elizabeth Saccente on Wednesday, Jun 23 2010.

CrimeFest 2009

Ann Cleeves, Caro Ramsay, Yrsa Sigurdardottir, Aly Monroe, Martin Edwards and Stephen Booth were just a few of the dozens of writers who made the three-day festival in Bristol fun, entertaining and instructive. There were numerous panels discussing every aspect of crime writing from police procedurals to pushing your characters over the edge. The ‘Angels with Dirty Faces’ panel was particularly good, as was the ‘Crime in Foreign Climes’, both of which touch on my series.  Aside from discussing the books, there were many insights into other writers’ lives and way of working.

A highlight for me was the Workshop led by veteran crime writers Peter Guttridge and Janet Laurence, and I am especially grateful for their comments on my own work. Peter also organised a pub quiz, moderated a panel and conducted entertaining interviews with the 2009 Diamond Dagger recipient, Andrew Taylor, and American crime writer Michael Connelly.

All in all it was a packed three days with the breadth and depth of crime writing on display. I can’t wait until next year!

Published by Elizabeth Saccente on Friday, May 22 2009. Comments (0)

Murakami and the Egg

Last month Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami travelled to Israel to accept the Jerusalem Prize. A lot of people told him not to go. But he went and he spoke. He spoke elegantly about writing fiction and about simple, beautiful humanity. "Each of us, he said, is, more or less, an egg...a unique, irreplaceable soul enclosed in a fragile shell...And each of us...is confronting a high, solid wall...The System." In his writing he seeks to reveal that soul while at the same time keeping The System in a critical spotlight. In going to Jerusalem he did just that.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1064909.html

Published by Elizabeth Saccente on Thursday, Mar 5 2009. Comments (0)