This month’s performances are named the ‘Saruwaka Festival.’ The festival was first held to commemorate the founding of the Saruwakaza Theatre (later, the Nakamuraza) by Saruwaka (Nakamura) Kanzaburō I and the staging of the first kabuki performance in Edo (the old name for Tokyo).
In the Matinee, a spectacular domestic play filled with the visual beauty of Edo kabuki, and an elegant dance based on the cherry blossom viewing held at Daigoji Temple will be performed, followed by a play by the director Yokouchi Kensuke which will be seen for the first time in 37 years since its premiere in 1988, performed this time as kabuki. The Evening Show begins with a history play featuring an ‘onnagata’ female role specialist who portrays a courtesan’s innermost feelings by actually playing the koto, the shamisen and the bowed instrument called kokyū. The next item is a dance depicting a lovers’ tryst in a dream featuring the actor Ikushima on a wretched remote island, followed by a masterpiece, a heartwarming domestic play which evokes laughter and tears, based on a sentimental Rakugo story by San’yūtei Enchō.