I. Examples of Post-Shingeki Theater: Ôta Shôgo, Suzuki Tadashi, Ninagawa Yukio
A. Ôta Shôgo (1939-)
1. Komachi Fuden (Tale of Komachi Told by the Wind, 1977) based on the noh play Komachi on the Stupa (Sotoba Komachi)
background provided for a performance of Komachi Fuden by Theatre Yugen in San Francisco; images of the performance in 1986
a. influences of traditional theater you can see in the image and description?
2. Mizu no Eki (The Water Station, 1981)
a. Setting:
b. Ôta's background: born in China, forced to flee as a young child
c. aesthetics/ stage/ use of silence/ symbolic movement
Scene 1 image slide show
Video: Theater in Japan: Yesterday and Today (see clip from Tenkei gekijo Mizu no Eki)
3. Discussion: elements of Traditional theater?
a. pace: “The pace should be two meters in five minutes”
b. timing: jô-ha-kyû (slow beginning, break, fast finish).
c. use of empty space (ma), minimal props
d. shomen staging (staged with actors facing front)
B. Suzuki Tadashi (1939-)
1. History of Toga Theater
2. Shiraishi Kayoko (1941-)
a. Gekiteki naru Mono o Megutte I (1969) and II (1970): variously translated as On the Dramatic Passions, On the Dramatic, In Search of the Dramatic
b. II (1970): Shiraishi performed solo in ten scenes taken from plays by Tsuruya Nanboku (early 19th c. Kabuki playwright); a Shinpa play; a play by Izumi Kyoka etc.; the scenes focused on a woman who had been grievously wronged
c. Compared to Okuni, legendary founder of Kabuki
(videos: One Step on a Journey, Theater in Japan: Yesterday and Today (clip of Cherry Orchard), The Tale of Lear)
3. Composition method (honkadori, sekai)
a. The Trojan Women, Macbeth, King Lear, Cherry Orchard, Bachae
4. Training method (“Grammar of the Feet”)
5. Discussion: other elements of traditional theater?
a. staging/lighting practices (shomen staging etc.)
b. centrality of actor over script, powerful voice over realism
C. Ninagawa Yukio (1935-) born in Kawaguchi, Saitama.
Well known in the west for his Japanese language productions of Shakespeare plays and Greek tragedies.
He has directed Hamlet differently six times (according to Wikipedia).
(video: Ninagawa's Hamlet)
1. Visual style
a. framing the play with actors dressing rooms
Hina matsuri (doll day festival)
shomen staging in final scene
2. Acting
