Something Wicked Fresh This Way Comes: Ninagawa's Macbeth
Last night (7/21) we experienced Yukio Ninagawa’s explosive rendition of William Shakespeare’s Macbeth at the David H. Koch Theatre at Lincoln Center (running through July 25th). His symbolic take on this masterpiece brings the audience full throttle to 16th Century feudal Japan. The set was breathtaking - a butsudan shrine expanded to fit the whole set inside, with mock cherry blossom trees whose petals fell gracefully as a reminder that life is fleeting and death is imminent. Ninagawa’s rendering uses these elements to cast death as a vehicle for letting go and freedom from the turmoil of life, as echoed in the sublime segments of Faure’s Requiem that play at pivotal moments in the performance.
The actors’ portrayals are no less powerful; never have I seen (or imagined) a better Lady Macbeth than Yuko Tanaka’s performance. Her pain and fear is felt in every word she echoes and even in her body gestures, harkening to the inspiration Ninagawa drew from the Noh theater tradition. The use of Japanese heightens the emotion in Shakespeare’s words with its emphatic tonality and gives them even stronger meaning from beginning to end. For those who do not speak Japanese (as I do not) Shakespeare's words are projected overhead - which makes the performance an even more complete reintroduction to the play.
It is only thanks to the wonder of Instagram that I found out about the performance via my news feed last Sunday. I suppose Instagram knows what I love! This is a wicked-fresh way to do Shakespeare and I suggest this to anyone looking for something a bit different from the usual. I plan to study more about Yukio Ninagawa, as he has adapted many works of Shakespeare with his own interpretive twist. I can’t imagine the genius and time it must take to add so much fresh meaning to such a masterpiece and am thankful to have seen it!
My Ensemble: High Tops and Kimonos!
I took this as an opportunity to wear my Yukata Kimono in green, red, and white woven silk ikat to the performance. This was a find that I stumbled across while on a visit to the Portobello Road Market in London last June. It’s definitely more of a modern take, being that it is not a traditional fabrication and the ikat pattern seems to have a more worldly inspired (almost African!) look as opposed to a traditional Japanese flow. I paired this with a fresh pair of classic parchment-colored high top Chuck Taylor’s. My hair, of course, mimicked the same - high top and fresh! I’m happy George was able to capture some great shots!
