How can I prepare for a play before going?

Preparation does not need hours; too much of it turns the visit into checking answers. Three lines are enough: who is who, what is at stake, and where the high point falls. With that in place, the stage's own idiom does the rest. Kabuki is made on that assumption.

On the day there are two aids. One is the earphone guide, a small receiver that delivers commentary timed to the scene — who a character is, what a movement means — and is well worth renting on a first visit. The other is the sujigaki, the programme sold in the theatre, carrying the cast, the synopsis and commentary. Read at the interval, it visibly sharpens the act that follows.

For anyone wanting to go further, learn the idea of a sekai — a story-world. Many kabuki plays are built on bodies of narrative already known to their audiences: the Soga world of the brothers' vendetta, the Yoshitsune world, and others. Learn one and plays that looked unrelated begin to lie on the same map, and the pleasure of recognition sets in — so that is where he turns up. Preparation for one visit becomes the doorway to the next. This site's play guides and glossary are built with exactly that use in mind.