The god of the forest soars above Tokyo¡¯s Shinbashi Enbujo Theatre on a zip line. Wooden clappers cut through Joe Hisaishi¡¯s familiar ¡°Princess Mononoke¡± score as actors in the bold white-and-red kumadori makeup of kabuki¡¯s larger-than-life heroes and villains leap into battle. Guns fire, swords clash and performers tumble through the ensuing fight.
It is not the kind of spectacle most audiences associate with kabuki, but it is exactly the point of Super Kabuki, a style created in 1986 by Ichikawa Eno III that embraces modern stagecraft and popular culture to bring new audiences into the art form. Shochiku¡¯s new adaptation of Studio Ghibli¡¯s ¡°Princess Mononoke,¡± directed by Kensuke Yokouchi, premiered July 3 and is scheduled to run through late August.
The protagonist, Ashitaka, is played by Ichikawa Danko, the 22-year-old grandson of Super Kabuki originator Ichikawa Eno III, while veteran performer Nakamura Kazutaro plays San, a wild girl raised by wolf deities, in keeping with kabuki¡¯s tradition of all-male performers. As he searches for a cure for his curse, Ashitaka becomes embroiled in a conflict between Lady Eboshi¡¯s expanding settlement and the forest threatened by its growth.
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