Women In Yeats at 47 Great Jones St. (2015)
by William Butler Yeats
Directed by Sonoko Kawahara
Site-Specific Presentation of
At The Hawks Well and The Only Jealousy of Emer
at 47 Great Jones Studio 6th FL
A hawk cries, a ghost is born, a hero is dead and Emer calls for love.
Two actresses meet in a bare-bones East Village studio, where they conjure up the supernatural world of W.B. Yeats. Extremely minimal, extremely challenging, yet subtly furious.
GALLERY
Photography by Keiichi Hoashi
About the production
Following the critically acclaimed, mesmerizing jazz and martial arts theater piece Deadly-She Wolf Assassin at Armageddon!, CJA is pleased to launch this new minimalist telling of two heroic Irish tales by the legendary Irish poet W.B. Yeats. At the Hawk’s Well and The Only Jealousy of Emer are two of five shorts plays known as the “Cuchulain Cycle” written by Yeats, which were influenced by traditional Japanese Noh theater. Yeats began writing this cycle in 1916. 100 years later, two modern New York women summon his vision in a studio in the East Village.
About Cuchulain Cycle
The arrogant young hero, seeks out the immortal water, nearly drinks but meets bird woman and fails. (AT THE HAWKS WELL, 1916), then is named the bravest among men and received a proof, a green helmet (THE GREEN HELMET, 1910), later King Conchubar, aware of Cuchulain’s bravery and his unruly temper, makes Cuchulain swear an oath of obedience, forcing the unaware Cuchulain to fight and kill his own son, a begotten on the woman of spirit, Queen Aoife. After discovering the truth, a raged hero runs out to fight the sea and drown (ON BALIE’S STRAND 1904), but his wife Emer makes a bargain with the spirit of the sea, restoring his life by renouncing forever any claim or hope for Cuchulain’s love, (THE ONLY JEALOUSY OF EMER 1919), finally, at the battle filed, the hero is killed by the Blind Man from ON BALIE’S STRAND for the price of twelve pennies. (THE DEATH OF CUCHULAIN 1939).
Production Credits
Written by William Butler Yeats
Directed by Sonoko Kawahara
Performed by Marina Celander, Youn Jung Kim, Sachiko Ninomiya (Japanese dance)
& Sumie Kaneko (shamisen/koto/voice)
Lighting: Ayumu “Poe” Saegusa
Music: Sumie Kaneko
Production Manager: Anna Okuda
Literarily Associate : Keiko Tsuneda
June 19-21, 2015