“Autumn leaves drift west and east,
Some paths meet some not,
Untold stories lost in mist, lost in time..
(First performed on 3 December 2009 at the Southbank Centre, London and on tour to Dublin, Oxford and Paris.
The second production opened at the National Noh Theatre in July 2011 and then toured to Kyoto, Beijing and Hong Kong.)
”
“Heavy hearts cry in silence,
Autumn storm tears rage,
Releasing Winter Butterflies
And memories shared
(First performed on 29 January 2020 at the Southbank Centre, London and on tour to Kilkenny, Wexford and Paris).”
Jannette Cheong
Jannette Cheong is a poet, playwright, designer and Theatre Nohgaku affiliated artist. London born, she has been involved with education and artistic collaborations internationally for 50 years. Author of the English noh, Pagoda, the first English noh using traditional noh techniques written by a British person, toured by the Oshima Noh Theatre/Theatre Nohgaku (Europe 2009, Asia 2011). Her ballet-noh-opera collaborative piece, Opposites-InVerse, was performed for Matsui Akira’s tribute programme: Noh time like the present, London (2017). Her English noh, Between the Stones (Europe 2020) was again toured by Oshima Noh Theatre/Theatre Nohgaku.
The world premiere of Pagoda was at the Southbank Centre, London, in 2009 and toured to Dublin, Oxford and Paris. In 2011 Pagoda opened at the National Noh Theatre in Tokyo and toured to the Kongo Noh Theatre, Kyoto, the National Centre for the Performing Arts, Beijing and the Hong Kong Academy for the Performing Arts and became one of the most internationally performed English-language noh plays at that time.
Pagoda Cast and Production Team: December 2009, following the last performance of Pagoda at the Maison de la Culture du Japon, Paris.
Pagoda-related activities included collaboration not only with theatres, but also universities, schools, museums and festivals. The development of such 'Getting to Noh' programmes of educational and outreach work, has been an important aspect of Richard's and Jannette's noh-related collaboration work.
Jubilith Moore
Performing the role of The Traveller (Waki) in Pagoda in 2009, Southbank Centre, London; then Dublin, Oxford & Paris. Also, in 2011 at the National Noh Theatre, Tokyo, Kongoh Theatre, Kyoto, the National Centre of the Performing Arts, Beijing and the Hong Kong Academy of the Performing Arts, Hong Kong.
Noh time like the present...
Jannette's long-standing interest in noh was brought into full focus again from 2015-2017 when she began working on, and co-produced, ‘Noh time like the present…’ an acclaimed tribute to professional noh actor Akira Matsui with Richard Emmert and Unanico Group, at LSO St Luke’s, London. The programme comprised four separate works - three of which included Akira Matsui performing noh in a unique fusion with western arts:
Rockaby written by Samuel Beckett, performed by Akira Matsui and Hugh Quarshie
Noh Hayashi Compilation composed Richard Emmert and performed by Eitaro Okura, Kayu Omura and Richard Emmert
Noh meets Bach performed by Akira Matsui and Lucia Capellaro
Opposites-InVerse (2017) written by Jannette Cheong and composed and directed by Richard Emmert in collaboration with Akira Matsui. Performed and choreographed by Akira Matsui and Peter Leung, working with opera singers Li Meili, Piran Legg as the chorus, and Eitaro Okura, Kayu Omura and Richard Emmert as the hayashi (instrumentalists).
Jannette's specific challenge was to noh and to Akira Matsui - especially Matsui sensei's special interest and talent of exploring snd building inter-cultural relationships. She wrote, as her tribute to Akira, in her piece Learning from Noh, in the book she specially designed for the Noh time like the present programme, co-edited with Richard Emmert:
Discovering patterns of change through performance art
Extracting and exemplifying meaning from universal patterns of change, through performance art, especially noh, has been a surprisingly cathartic and a deeply fascinating learning experience. This was the case with the noh play Pagoda (2008, 2011), with its universal themes of migration and identity, and Opposites-InVerse, a more conceptual noh-fusion piece exploring opposites through poetry and performance, and indeed through the development of the noh play -Between the Stones.
In noh, characters can be alive, dead, mythical, human, non-human and possibly any configuration of these. Akira Matsui demonstrates this very clearly in Opposites-InVerse by using a noh mask and his body to represent an old man, a young woman, his performance partner (Peter), and (without a mask) himself. There are many different aspects of the opposites phenomenon to explore in life. In the piece we exemplify three (opposition, attraction and balance). This ability to transform has another fascinating ‘opposite’ phenomenon - how we determine what is 'real' or 'unreal'... Imagination is a timeless human faculty, as powerfully conveyed through this minimalist 650 year-old art, as it is in any age.
Exploring how different genres might be combined with noh
Life is a multi-disciplinary experience. Opposites-InVerse has the intent of crossing disciplines to reflect this. This is both in the interpretation of opposites through the poetic structures of noh, and in bringing diverse genres together. The latter because that fusion embodies the soul of the piece. Richard Emmert, my collaborator for Pagoda, and I first explored noh melodies sung by opera vocalists at a workshop in 2015 with opera vocalists Meili Li, Piran Legg and Bethan Langford, which included Akira Matsui. This followed my shadowing of the new MA in Opera Making & Writing at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama for a year. This happened while we were exploring a cross-cultural animation film of Pagoda working with Unanico. It was as a consequence of this that we also considered the bringing together of contemporary dance and noh in discussion with Matsui sensei and Peter Leung for Opposites-InVerse. We were particularly excited about this prospect after seeing what the artists could achieve together in another workshop held in July 2016. It was immensely inspiring to see artists, young and old, use their artistic abilities to cross apparent cultural and discipline divides with relative ease and great enthusiasm.
The challenges of international collaboration...
It would be fair to say that performing arts are collaborative endeavours created out of a huge amount of hard work - and the right opportunities, situations and circumstances that can bring artists together. This is even more so for international collaborations which have several additional layers of complexity. They include not only linguistic and geographical challenges, but more importantly attitudes to cultural difference. Having been born international (of mixed heritage), I am immensely grateful that my life has also been enriched by ‘being international’. This has come from the privilege of working with many people internationally including for the 15 years with Richard Emmert, Akira Matsui and all of our collaborating artists.
It is hard to say what comes first, the project or the people; the conditions (mentioned above) have to be right and both have to inspire those concerned enough to collaborate. Time, quality and costs are essential to successful projects, and we are all challenged by these, but three other elements come to mind: passion for the art and to see something through, humility to see the special talents in others, and a willingness to work hard at building the special relationships needed to cement everything together.
Building special relationships
I think I am of the mind that it is this building of special relationships that is paramount. There are few in the noh world like Akira Matsui who can rise to the artistic challenge of combining a conceptual, complex ‘East meets West’ piece with contemporary ballet and opera vocals. The ‘Noh time like the present...’ programme is a tribute to Akira’s special qualities, including his infectious, positive approach to new work - as illustrated by the many tributes in this special programme.
We should also recognise the work of Richard Emmert. There are no conductors in the world of noh. The artistic discipline of all the performers and how they work together is central to the ‘orchestration’ of noh. But it seems to me that Rick has been pivotal in building the special relationships needed to develop new noh work internationally. As a composer, director, performer (actor/instrumentalist/singer) he has the depth of understanding that has cemented uniquely many new noh, and noh-fusion works. Working together with Akira and the company he founded (Theatre Nohgaku) they have developed so many special relationships and new collaborations; at least enough for two lifetimes! So my special thanks goes to Richard Emmert’s teacher Akira Matsui for what he has taught my teacher, Richard Emmert... and what we continue to learn from both of them and together."
It is more of this new learning that we hope we have brought to Between the Stones.
As a special tribute to Richard Emmert, Jannette designed and edited, Getting to Noh: A tribute to Richard Emmert which was printed in time to be presented to him by rising star child noh actor, 11 year-old, Iori Oshima, at the end of world premiere opening of their third collaboration: Between the Stones, at the Southbank Centre, London, 31 January 2020.
The new English language noh Between the Stones
“It was not my intention to write another noh at the time that I began to write Between the Stones (Summer 2017), but I felt moved to do so. The lives of those who inspired the latest piece - and who continue to inspire me - are people I and others have loved and lost.
We are all deeply moved when we hear about the tragic loss of life - of the young especially. Such as the beautiful spirit of little Rebecca in Kilkenny, and my great niece, who I never met - and young Audrey, who at aged 15, was tragically killed in a road accident.
Through our shared humanity we all feel such loss and of the promise unfulfilled. But no matter how short, it is the beauty of the lives of those we love that will, and can, continue to inspire us. ”
“Winter butterflies released.. silent in the breeze, silent in the ocean’s waves... ”
Finding inspiration Between the Stones...
The seeds of inspiration for Between the Stones came from the author's many visits to the temple gardens of Kyoto which are wonderful places for reflection. In 2013, soon after the death of the author’s younger sister, Dianna - she recalls:
“A typhoon began the day I arrived on one particular visit to Kyoto, but I was compelled to visit the gardens nonetheless. Rather than wait for the rain to ease I began to walk towards the bus stop. Within seconds I was drenched in the torrential rain. I hesitated and thought I should turn back. Then, a kind taxi driver seemed to appear from nowhere who not only took me to the temple gardens, but also gave me an umbrella on arrival and said I should take as long as I needed and that he would wait for me. His was the only car in the car park.
When I entered the temple I had to first pass the ‘Mirror lake’ with its rain-drenched water lilies. I stood by the lake and was full of sadness as I remembered my sister...
I remember thinking that the image of the distant water lilies drenched in the rain reflected the depth of my inner-most feelings. I took out my camera and struggled with tears and rain. Then, I extended the lens and as the water lilies came closer and closer they no longer looked bedraggled in the heavy rain but took on their true beauty...
Finding beauty in sadness was one of the enduring memories of that day... and as I sat for a while reflecting by the stone garden I felt the importance of this grow in the solace of the stones and the space... It is this essence that I have tried to convey in the new noh drama ‘Between the Stones’.
The characters in the noh may be based on real people, and the gardens may be based on real gardens, but they become the essence of something universal. The new noh creates symbolic representations of real life experiences trying to draw on this essence - and the seeds of the reflections that may be found in, and between the stones...
Noh has a strange capacity to be both specific and vague, real and unreal, close and yet distant... and both vulnerable and somehow strong all at the same time...
”
After that memorable visit to the temple gardens in the middle of a typhoon, Jannette created these words and images - 'Water Lilies in a Typhoon' in October 2013:
Two other tragic losses were to take place in Jannette's life soon after the loss of her beautiful sister, Dianna. The last was her dear friend and mentor Dika, otherwise known to her family as 'Farmor'...
“It was Dika who inspired me from my early student days and throughout the rest of my life. It was Dika who suggested that we might see a noh drama when we travelled together to China and Japan for seven weeks in 2007, and when, at the end of the noh performance I first met the Oshima family... it was Dika who was there - right at the beginning of my ‘noh’ journey and continues to be a source of encouragement...
Dika never saw the karesansui garden that I created in early 2017 but her inspiration, and I would like to believe, along with others that I have loved, a part of her soul are now embedded in Between the Stones...”
Between the Stones is a tribute to lost loved ones and their memories, the power of gardens to nurture and heal the soul... and to finding beauty and love following tragic loss.
Image and photography by Jannette Cheong
Some other art-related projects
In 2012 and 2014 Jannette curated a major retrospective exhibition of celebrated photographer Clive Barda (whose 2009 photographs of Pagoda are now among the most iconic images of the piece). In 2009 (London) and 2015 (Shanghai) she facilitated two international performing arts forums where she could also draw upon her own unique international and inter-cultural 'page to stage' experience.
In 2017, Jannette wrote the short song cycle Reflection composed by Evan Kassoff and performed in Philadelphia, USA.
In 2019-2021 Jannette rediscovered an old film project ‘The Question in the Village’ and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic she worked on this unusual labour of love collaborating with friends who helped her to complete a project that turned out to be 50 years in the making!
Supporting others
The UNESCO Associated Schools Programme Network (ASPnet) Arts & Culture for Peace Initiative is the latest of the educational activities supported by Jannette and her colleagues. You can read more about the initiative here. This was officially launched in June 2022.