Performing Shakespeare in Japan

Shakespeare has an astonishingly rich and varied performance tradition in Japan, stretching from the westernising and modernising ferment of the nineteenth century Meiji era to the postmodern performance culture of today. How has the tradition evolved? Where is it going? How is it to be accounted for in theatrical and cultural terms? What does it mean to perform Shakespeare in Japan? Such questions are raised in the book's introduction and pursued in fourteen essays on key aspects, moments and personalities in the performance tradition. These are followed by provocative interviews with four leading directors (Deguchi Norio, Ninagawa Yukio, Suzuki Tadashi and Noda Hideki) and with one leading performer (Hira Mikijiro). Unlike the very few existing books on Japanese Shakespeare, this book concentrates on modern and postmodern theatre, from c.1970, and contains contributions from both Japanese and Western scholars and theatre practitioners.

Table of Contents:
List of illustrations; List of contributions; Preface Takahashi Yasunari; Acknowledgements; Introduction Minami Ryuta, Ian Carruthers and John Gillies; Part I. Early Modern and Traditional Theatre Productions: 1. What do we mean by 'Japanese' Shakespeare? Anzai Tetsuo; 2. Japan as 'half-civilized': and early Japanese adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Japan's construction of its national image in the late nineteenth century Yoshihara Yukari; 3. Shakespeare in Kabuki James R. Brandon; 4. Osanai Kaoru's version of Romeo and Juliet, 1904 Matsumoto Shinko; 5. Some Noh adaptations of Shakespeare in English and Japanese Ueda Munakata Kuniyoshi; 6. The Braggart Samurai: a Kyogen adaptation of Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor Michael Shapiro; Part II. Modern Productions (Post World War II): 7. Weaving the spider's web: interpretation of character in Kurosawa Akira's Throne of Blood (Kumonosu-jo) Paula von Loewenfeldt; 8. Innovation and continuity: two decades of Deguchi Norio's Shakespeare Theatre Company Suematsu Michiko; 9. Tragedy with laughter: Suzuki Tadashi's The Tale of Lear Takahashi Yasunari; 10. The Chronicle of Macbeth: Suzuki method acting in Australia, 1992 Ian Curruthers; 11. The rose and the bamboo: Noda Hideki's Sandaime Richâdo Suzuki Masae; 12. Shakespeare reinvented on the contemporary Japanese stage Minami Ryuta; 13. Juliet's girlfriends: the Takarazuka Revue Company and the Shôjo culture Ohtani Tomoko; 14. Directing 'Japanese Shakespeare' locally and universally: an interview with Gerald Murphy Ted Motohashi; Part III. Interviews with Directors and Actors: 15. Interview with Deguchi Norio; 16. Interview with Suzuki Tadashi; 17. Interview with Ninagawa Yukio; 18. Interview with Noda Hideki; 19. Interview with Hira Mikijirô; Afterword: Shakespeare removed: some reflections on the localization of Shakespeare in Japan John Gillies; Index.

About the Author :
Minami Ryuta is Associate Professor of English at Kobe City University of Foreign Studies. He has co-edited, with Ian Carruthers and John Gillies, a CD-ROM on Deguchi Norio's productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream for the Department of Theatre and Dance, La Trobe University. He also compiled a chronology of Shakespearean performances in Japan for Shakespeare and the Japanese Stage published by Cambridge University Press in 1999. Ian Carruthers is Lecturer at La Trobe University, Melbourne. As Visiting Professor at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan, he taught traditional Japanese theatre and in 1994 won a Japan Foundation Fellowship to research the theatre of Suzuki Tadashi. He has since co-written a book, with Yasunari Takahashi, entitled The Theatre of Suzuki Tadashi which will be published by Cambridge University Press. John Gillies is an Australian Research Council Research Fellow at the School of Arts & Media, La Trobe University, Melbourne. He has published numerous articles and book chapters. He is also the author of Shakespeare and the Geography of Difference published by Cambridge University Press in 1994 and, with Virginia Mason Vaughan, Playing the Globe (1998).

Review :
'This excellent book ... makes you want to board the next flight to Tokyo and take up the challenge.' Times Literary Supplement