kabuki play analisis

So i finished reading Masakado, a kabuki play. It's mainly about a soldier who murdered a king and took over the empire, long time after these events the king's daughter disguises herself as a prostitute from the "pleasure quarters" and tries to seduce him, she really wants to avenge the death of her father, the soldier realizes this and they fight, destroying the surroundings, and pose TAH DAH...

what's most interesting in this play is that the dialogue is extremely fun and upbeat, i almost peed my pants upon reading it, not really, in fact, it was surprisingly bland and boring, it's Yoda-ish and very slow paced and almost too "fancy". I do not feel the realness of the characters upon reading it, heck i don't feel a thing, it's like they're robots as if the play were a stereotype of what ancient asian people are portrayed to speak like. what was weird is that the dialogue between the main characters was significantly shorter than that of a sort of chorus this play had (something i have come to realize is a fixture in kabuki theatre.) it is this "chorus" that tells the stories, they sing and play the music (this is one of the first elements of the play that break the realism of it, the second one being the stage assistants that help the actors with props and costume changes.), the chorus' song is accompanied by a dance from the main characters, it is here where the play finally comes to life.

dance is a very important part of kabuki theatre, in fact, if one were to choose between boring dialogues and splendorous dancing that actually means a thousand times more than the dialogue, one would definitely choose dancing.
The dances are accompanied by the singing of the TOKIWAZU and there are several movements that indicate different feelings, this leads to a very high level of a symbolism of sorts, things mean something in this play, they are not just there. The sorceress costume, for example, was very beautiful and meant peacefulness but a spider web pattern indicated the "courtesans true nature and evil powers" .

The stage directions (plenty of them by the way, a whole lot of them.) were very descriptive and more enjoyable than the actual dialogue, they were very very very very very very long and excruciatingly specific meaning the movement and dancing and posing in kabuki theatre is EXTREMELY IMPORTANT this will make my job harder next year as director since i will be forced to be meticulous, VERY meticulous (Muaahahha...) and i actually enjoy extensive using of stage direction so, there's that- JA.

another thing that struck me is the production level in this play, costume is described as gorgeous and scenery...well, all i need to say is that they have a castle...that is destroyed and apparently it's "magnificent", so i am a little bit scared with how much work will have to be done next year and on what price (if you know what i mean TSHHH(big nose fella), on a more theatrical level i am concerned because this play has a very specific and TRADITIONAL look, which will be difficult to work with in terms of concept and design, unless we go la vida es sueño on it and do it as it is supposed to be done.

but a doubt and insecurity that i have is the overall appeal that a kabuki play will have (that is if all kabuki plays have the same structure on paper, meaning the same kind of dialogue and actions.) on newton students and generally speaking on people who have never heard of kabuki theatre. so i'm puzzled, how will we make a kabuki play that incorporates kabuki conventions that stay true to the tradition, but still adapt it to fit the expectations of newton students? and also, if this play's dialogue struck me as boring even though it is VERY kabuki, how will pinedah (morira) make a play with both witty and dramatic and engaging dialogue that actually keeps the interest of the audience but still keep it along the tradition? I also wondered about my job as director, how will i, a kabuki inexperienced person, direct a kabuki play? and what aspects of it will i direct more? since we have assigned uga uga as choreographer (due to the departure of our beloved luisgi D1 dance expert) .

as a side note i must say, i am worried, but more than that i'm excited, it's challenging yes, but it's like fuel my mind runs with ideas and different looks that we can transform the newton theatre into, so i'm scared because i know that i won't be able to control all of those aspects so i come to a final question, how does a director take on the challenge of directing a kabuki play that has the EXTREMELY clear vision of the playwright splattered all over it? oh dear lord, the earth is doomed