Founded in 1925, Dartington Trust has been a thriving visitor destination and charity supporting learning in arts, ecology and social justice, set on a beautiful 1,200 estate in the South Devon countryside.
Throughout its history they have drawn leading artists and thinkers including Bernard Leach, composer Igor Stravinsky, cellist Jacqueline du Pre, among many others,
Bernard Leach who was hugely influenced by Japanese ceramics and arts invited his friends and two great Japanese potters/thinker Yanagi Sōetsu and Hamada Shōji to organise a conference about Japanese craft in 1952.
This two-event programme aim to celebrate the 70 years anniversary of the conference and the fruitful cultural relationship between and UK and Japan focusing on tea ceremony and tea bowl.
An experienced tea ceremony practitioner from Urasenke UK will give a talk about the history, background and aesthetics of the tea ceremony. In the workshop, participants will learn and experience the procedure of making tea using the centuries old series of stylised elegant movements.
Also renowned potter Jill Fanshawe Kato will offer a one day ceramic course we will be using hand building techniques to make two beautiful tea bowls.
11th June Tea ceremony demonstration and workshop
12th June Tea Bowl making workshop
Noh Reimagined 2024: Sumidagawa and Kinuta
Classics of Noh Tragedy
21, 22 June 2024
“Noh Reimagined” festival 2024 at Kings Place celebrates two masterpiece tragedies of traditional Japanese theatre: “Sumidagawa” and “Kinuta”.
“Sumidagawa” by Kanze Motomasa (c. 1394-1432) is one of the most renowned Noh plays and has inspired artists over the years, including Benjamin Britten for his opera Curlew River. It is a story about a mother whose son has been kidnapped. The mother embarks on a journey which ends in despair as she finds that her son died a year previously.
“Kinuta” is believed to be the last and greatest work by Zeami Motokiyo (c.1363 – c.1443), who established Noh of the current style almost 650 years ago. The rhythmic beating of the “kinuta” (fulling block) is associated with the nightfall of late autumn nights and the solitude of an abandoned wife, as well as the fading love of the husband.
Starring some of the most esteemed Noh performers from Japan, “Noh Reimagined” 2024 offers an unmissable opportunities to experience the enduring power of classical drama alongside performances, workshops, talks, and more.
Noh Reimagined will bring Noh “Sumidagawa” to the 75th Aldeburgh Festival.
The performance of Sumidagawa on 18 June will be one of the main events of the 75th Aldeburgh Festival .
Sumidagawa, one of the most renowned Noh plays, performed in the Concert Hall by acclaimed Japanese artists – truly an exciting prospect.
It will be preceded by a newly written English re-telling of the story written by Xanthe Gresham Knight and the writer and dramaturg Gareth Mattey.
Pre -performance talk : Ahead of the evening performance, hear two experts in conversation about Japanese theatre and the renowned Noh play Sumidagawa. The talk features Kohei Kawaguchi of Kanze School , one of this evening’s Noh artists and Jason James, director general of the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation.
Motomasa Kanze:Sumidagawa (90’)
Shizuka Mikata shite, mother
Seigo Mikuriya waki, ferryman
Gasho Yamanaka jiutai chorusp
Kohei Kawaguchi jiutai chorus
Yasuki Kobayakawa jiutai chorus
Yasumitsu Kobayakawa jiutai chorus
Yasuhiro Sakoh nohkan flute
Tatsushi Narita kotsuzumi shoulder drum
Tetsuya Yamamoto otsuzumi hip drum
Xanthe Gresham Knight storyteller
Gareth Mattey writer and dramaturgist
Noh Reimagined 2024 is presented by Akiko Yanagisawa ( Mu Arts/ Azuki Foundation)
