Noh Training Project UK
Noh Training Project UK is dedicated to providing accessible practical training in classical Japanese Noh drama
Our primary focus is an annual intensive summer workshop open to performers, teachers, students, musicians – anyone with a desire to learn more about this unique example of Total Theatre. We founded Noh Training Project UK in 2011 to give people in Europe the opportunity to access Noh’s rich traditions and unique training practices.
Noh is a multi-disciplinary art form that combines dance, chant, music, mask, costumes and ancient stories in a powerful and stately performance. Developed by the Japanese philosopher and dramatist Zeami over 600 years ago, Noh is the oldest continually performed theatre in the world today. Other forms such as Kabuki (which was influenced by Noh) are better known in the West, but Noh remains the most regularly performed of the traditional theatre arts in Japan, with a growing following of enthusiasts across the world.
The intense stillness of the Noh form allows it to isolate profound moments of beauty and inner transformation, using a unique combination of dramatic and musical elements.
Noh has inspired and influenced western artists including Britten, Yeats, Grotowski, Barba and Brook.
Today, it continues to inform the work of a range of contemporary practitioners.
NTPUK Team
Dr Ashley Thorpe Ashley Thorpe is NTP UK’s Co-founder and Programme Director.
Ashley Thorpe is Reader in the Department of Drama, Theatre & Dance at Royal Holloway University of London. He began studying noh in 1997 and has been taught by Kita School performers, Richard Emmert, Akira Matsui and Teruhisa Oshima.
Theatre Nohgaku member and Director of the Noh Training Project UK which began in 2011, he has published twelve books, including the forthcoming Intercultural Japanese Noh Theatre: Texts & Analyses of English-Language Noh. He has also written his own English-language noh, Emily which premiered at Tara Arts, London in 2019, and has performed in international touring productions of the English-language noh Between the Stones (2019) and the French-language noh Medea (2023 & 2024).
Prof Richard Emmert is NTP UK’s Co-founder and Artistic Director.
Richard Emmert is one of only a handful of non-Japanese Noh experts fully qualified to teach Noh in Japan (where he has lived since 1974) and abroad. As well as performing and teaching Noh all over the world, he is also a Professor of Music and Theatre at Musashino University in Tokyo.
Laura Sampson former producer of NTP UK, now helps out where she can alongside her work as a performance storyteller and writer.
Laura Sampson is a London-based storyteller and writer. Recent projects include storytelling with National Trust, Young V&A and leading UK storytelling organisations Crick Crack Club and Story Jam. Her first book, Enchanted Tales (Templar) was published in October 2023.
Laura has practised noh since 2011 and is a performer-member of Theatre Nohgaku. Current English-language noh (and noh-inspired) projects include Blue Moon Over Memphis (Tokyo) and Medée (Paris), solo storytelling shows Yamanba (2024) and Legend of the Burning Bell (2019), alongside musical collaborations with contemporary composer Anna Murray (Ireland). She is also an MA Japanese Studies student (SOAS).