context: theatre > noh > impenetrability

Impenetrability of Noh: Dialogue

Noh dialogue is deliberately muffled, not only by the mask but by the actor deliberately speaking in a very unclear way, often to the point of being incomprehensible: indeed, some actors don't know what words they are saying, just the sounds. Sometimes they don't even know the plot of plays they have performed many times: they just know what sounds and movements to make. Even if you can hear the words, it is almost always archaic poetic language full of often extremely obscure allusions.

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