A revolving stage is a mechanically controlled platform within a theatre that can be rotated in order to speed up the changing of a scene within a show.
Kabuki theatre development
Background Kabuki theatre began in Japan around 1603 when Okuni, a Shinto priestess of the Izumi shrine, traveled with a group of priestesses to Kyoto to become performers. Okuni and her nuns danced sensualized versions of Buddhist and Shinto ritual dances, using the shows as a shop window for their services at night. They originally performed in the dry river bed of the River Kamo on a makeshift wooden stage, but as Okuni’s shows gained popularity they began to tour, performing at the imperial court at least once. Eventually, they were able to build a permanent theatre in 1604, modeled after Japan's aristocratic Nōh theatre which had dominated the previous era. Kabuki, with its origins in popular entertainment, drew crowds of common folk, along with high-class samurai looking to win their favorite performer for the night. This mixing of social classes troubled the Tokugawa Shogunate, who stressed the strict separation of different classes. When rivalries between Okuni’s samurai clients grew too intense, the shogunate took advantage of the conflict and banned women from performing onstage in 1629. The women were replaced by beautiful teenage boys who took part in the same after-dark activities, leading Kabuki to be banned from the stage completely in 1652. An actor-manager in Kyoto, Murayama Matabei, went to the authorities responsible and staged a hunger strike outside their offices. In 1654 Kabuki was allowed to return with restrictions. The shogunate declared that only adult men with “shaved pates” were allowed to perform, the shows must be fully acted plays and not variety shows, and actors had to remain in their own quarter of the city and refrain from mixing with the general public in their private life. With the dampened sensuality of Kabuki theatre, performers turned to exploiting art and spectacle to keep their audiences engaged. The Genroku period of 1688 saw the solidification of the aesthetics of Kabuki under the new restrictions placed by the shogunate. Nōh theatre of the previous period was the theatre of aristocrats. After the embarrassment Kabuki brought to upper class society, it needed to develop into a more serious art form in order to survive. However, Kabuki theatre did not lose the influence of its origins as popular entertainment. A majority of the Kabuki repertoire was adapted from Bunraku puppet theatre, another popular entertainment of the same period. New innovations had to be made to adapt small scale puppet theatre into full scale plays, as well as elevate the source material to a higher class of art.
The Mawari-Butai
The revolving stage, called the mawari-butai, was invented by Osaka playwright Namiki Shozo in 1729 and solved the issue of moving heavy scenic properties quickly as Kabuki adopted Bunraku into full scale designs. The mawari-butai also served to capture the audience’s interest in the rambunctious theatre atmosphere. The mawari-butai was originally a raised mechanical platform that had to be operated manually by stage hands. The audience would have been able to see the stage hands turning the set as the action of the actors carried on continuously into the next scene. By the 1800s the mawari-butai had evolved to become flush with the stage, and to include an inner revolve and an outer revolve that could be spun simultaneously to achieve certain special effects. Stage hands now moved under stage, requiring the strength of at least four people to push the revolving stage to its next position. The mawari-butai in Kabuki theatre was always manually operated by stage hands. The mawari-butai allowed great spectacle and ease of set changes, but it also provided a great opportunity for story and aesthetic choices. No more than two sets were constructed on the revolve. These sets could be entirely different settings or show a change in mood or time within one setting. By walking on the revolve in the opposite direction of its motion, actors could appear to go on long journeys through woods, down city streets, etc. The addition of the inner revolve allowed for set pieces to move in relation to each other. For example, two boats could sail past each other in an epic sea battle like in Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s The Girl From Hakata. The inner revolve sometimes was fitted with a lift that could be used to make set pieces rise from the floor, or to make buildings appear as if they are crashing down. The mawari-butai takes on a filmic effect and “fades the actor in and out of the realm of the performance”. Kabuki does not strive to be realistic, it strives to be a decorated space. Kabuki is first and foremost an actor’s theatre and asks the audience to suspend reality of setting, instead adapting to the conventions of Kabuki.
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