Zvika Serper: The Foreigner Behind The Mask In Japanese Traditional Theatre

When Zvika Serper left Israel for Japan at the beginning of the 1980s after completing his theatre studies at Tel Aviv University, he had a clear objective: to train in the main forms of Japanese classical theatre so he could incorporate aspects of the art into Western theatre. This culminated in the incredible achievement of playing the lead role in the three principal performing styles of Japanese traditional theatre – Noh, Kyogen and Kabuki -something that no other person in Japan, Japanese or Westerner, has done to this day.

The austere Noh is the oldest form of Japanese theatre, dating from about the fourteenth century. The plays tend to be sombre, dealing with themes such as human destiny, and often feature ghosts, gods, and demons. But they may also retell well-known works of Japanese literature, such as The Tale of Genji or The Tale of the Heike. Noh requires a highly stylised form of acting that involves singing, dancing, and chorus chanting, and has a set format: a principal actor (shite) supported by a companion actor and a secondary actor with a 6-8 man chorus and 3-4 musicians playing traditional instruments. The shite (and sometimes his companion) wears a mask (omote/men = face) and may don five or six layers of clothing in order to create a larger-than life character. The stage is simple, with almost no scenery, and props are few but highly significant to the drama.
Kyogen, traditionally associated with Noh, is performed on the same stage. Kyogen is shown between Noh productions; it can be an independent piece, offering comic relief from the more sombre Noh theatre, or it can take place during the short intervals of a Noh play; in this case, it is usually connected to the main drama and explains the narrative in a simple way. In contrast to the lofty Noh, Kyogen plays tend to deal with the lives of simple people – a master and a servant, or a man and his wife − but they sometimes present characters such as gods and demons in a satiric fashion. Together, Noh and Kyogen form the dual art of Nogaku.

In 1984, Serper played the title role in the Noh play Jinen Koki (Jinen the Preacher), accompanied by his teacher Asami Masakuni. The drama tells the story of a girl who sells herself into slavery in order to be able to buy a kimono for the preacher, Jinen, so that he will pray for her dead parents. It continues with Jinen’s desperate attempts to secure the release of the girl by returning the kimono, while her captors make their own demands, such as forcing Jinen to dance.
Surprisingly, there is only ever one rehearsal for a Noh play and one performance. The same play may be performed only months later, also once. There is no director, the actors learn their parts with their instructors and then meet for the single rehearsal. The principal actor also serves as producer, organising the performance and procuring items such as costumes, wigs and stage props. By contrast, in Kabuki several rehearsals are held toward the end of the month, followed by a month of performances (at the end of which are a few more rehearsals for the next month’s program). Preparations for Kyogen are similar to those of Noh, but are obviously much easier as the plays are shorter, with less music and more acting. Dressing for a Noh performance is particularly cumbersome due to the many layers of costumes the lead actor may have to don, followed by the wig and finally the mask.
While cultural events are well covered by the media, it is rare to see critical reviews of traditional performances in the Western sense. Thus, there were no such reviews of Serper’s appearances. As far as audience reaction was concerned, it should be stressed that people came to the productions specifically to see him perform.

Since returning to Israel, Serper has worked to incorporate various Japanese aesthetics and techniques into Western drama. Among his projects, he produced and directed classics such as Aeschylus’ Agamemnon (1993) and Shakespeare’s Macbeth (1996), as well as S. Ansky’s Yiddish play The Dybbuk (2002). The latter, about a bride possessed by a ‘dybbuk’, believed to be the dislocated spirit of a dead person, is well suited to the concept of Noh drama, and this production, as well as Serper’s previous ones, was highly acclaimed. These plays, all produced in Hebrew, videotaped and sub-titled in English, have been shown at academic and artistic venues around the world.
Zvika Serper is currently an associate professor in the departments of East Asian Studies and Theatre Arts at Tel Aviv University, where he continues his practical work of bridging Eastern and Western theatre/acting techniques, as well as his academic research on comparisons between and fusions of Japanese and Western theatre. He travels abroad frequently giving lectures-cum-demonstrations and conducting master classes and workshops in acting and movement techniques at theatres and universities, such as the Graduate Acting Program of Tisch School of the Arts, New York University; the Department of Theatre, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London; the Department of Literature, Waseda University, Tokyo; and the National Academy of Cinema, Television and Theatre in Lodz, Poland.
By Beryl Belsky

Beryl Belsky is a graduate in East Asian Studies from the Australian National University and currently works as an academic editor at Tel Aviv University. Her blog, The Asia Collection, from which this article is taken, offers the Western reader glimpses into some lesser known aspects of Asia, as well as into subjects connected to the region that are of interest to her personally.

A Note from Beryl:

I would like to thank Professor Zvika Serper for letting me interview him, for informing and correcting me, and for answering my questions so patiently. I am also grateful to him for allowing me to publish photos from his personal collection.
Originally Published in The Asia Collection.