• Kabuki: 霊験亀山鉾  (The Blood Revenge at Kameyama), Tokyo Kabukiza

One of the prolific Tsuruya Nanboku’s typical madcap stories making its Kabukiza debut. I was mainly interested in seeing Kataoka Nizaemon, a National Living Treasure, in an evil role, where he’s pretty much unequaled on the Kabuki stage.

It’s as impossible to sum up the full story as it was to follow it, with its huge cast of characters, interlocking stories, and numerous twists and turns, not to mention the double-casting of key roles. The Kameyama vendetta is a famous example of the genre (though not one of the Three Great Vendettas as the program claims), and that story lies at the heart of this complex play. Basically, the evil Mizuemon has killed a man in a surprise attack, then poisons the man’s brother in a cowardly trick without fighting the official vendetta honorably. Their adopted brother then vows to avenge their death.

The varying stories are less important than the opportunity they provide for stage tricks and lots of violent murders. I lost count of how many people were cut down throughout the show, often involving a final painful thrust piercing their bodies as they lay dying. The dimly lit scene on the riverbank with the gravediggers, which involved several murders, was especially well done. The best scene was at the crematorium during a pouring rain (using real water) as one of the women (I can’t remember which) kills one of the men (ditto), who falls dramatically down a well, only for Mizuemon to burst dramatically out of a barrel-type casket on the other side of the stage and slash the woman to death. The following scene offers a nice mix of humor and grotesquery when the mother of the man seeking the vendetta comes and finally gives her permission for Omatsu to marry the man, only to reveal that the man has in fact been murdered. The woman, who has become a nun, then stabs herself in order to provide the blood from a human liver that will save Omatsu’s son’s life (it’s complicated). The child actor acquitted himself well.

Nizaemon was as good as ever playing both Mizuemon and his doppelganger, at one point switching from one to the other in about 30 seconds. His voice and movement haven’t aged in the least, and he is still one of the most consistently excellent actors in Kabuki. Even with the wide range of actors, he dominated every scene he was in. This appears to be the first time he’s done this role in 20 years, but it couldn’t have been better. Ganjiro and Tozo (as the nun) were also memorable. An enjoyable show.