Noh is a uniquely Japanese form of musical drama that dates back to at least the 14th century. However, it took 600 years before this performing art surfaced in Western culture — notably with Irish poet William Butler Yeats' noh-inspired 1917 play "At the Hawk's Well."
Afterward, that work was twice revised as classical noh productions — first as "Taka-no-Izumi" ("The Hawk Spring") in 1949, then as "Takahime"("The Hawk Princess") in 1967 — with both versions still often performed in Japan to this day.
Now, to mark the centenary of the publication of Yeats' poem, as well as 60 years of diplomatic relations between Ireland and Japan, and a half-century since the first production of "The Hawk Princess," a so-called Celtic noh version of that work will be staged jointly by leading noh artists and the Celtic choir, Anuna.