Event Report: Reconstructing a Noh stage at the Japanese garden in Cowra NSW

Sumiyo Egawa, a Sydney-based Japanese Noh expert, performed Noh dance on a reconstructed Noh stage in Cowra, NSW. Credit: Sumiyo Egawa

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Dr Tets Kimura, a researcher at Flinders University in Adelaide and Mr Sumiyo Egawa, a Japanese Noh expert talk about their thoughts after the event which temporarily reconstructed a Noh stage in Cowra, NSW.

The Noh stage was originally built for the Adelaide Festival in 1988 by a Japanese Kanze Noh school and has been kept in Sydney. The stage is considered to be the only existing Noh stage in Australia and New Zealand.

The last time the stage was used for a production was in 2015, for an English Noh play titled 'Oppenheimer.' After the show, the stage was deconstructed again and kept in a steel shipping container for about 8 years. It was kept in the Univerisity of Sydney and sent to Cowra in 2016.

What is going to happen to the stage? According to the Garden's social media, it may be possible for the Garden to reconstruct it temporary for the Garden’s forthcoming Koyo Autumn Festival (3-4 May 2024) and Sakura Spring Festival (28 September 2024).