Shakespeare and the Japanese Stage

Leading Japanese and Western Shakespeare scholars study the interaction of Japanese and Western conceptions of Shakespeare.

Takashi Sasayama (Edited by), J. R. Mulryne (Edited by), Margaret Shewring (Edited by)

9780521129510, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 4 February 2010

372 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 cm, 0.55 kg

Review of the hardback: 'This collection brilliantly and incisively focuses on the relation of Shakespeare and Japanese theatre, both traditional and contemporary … Obviously this book is outstanding in its high academic standard, but it is made truly unique by two features in addition to the essays it contains. One is the extensive chronological table of Shakespeare performances in Japan from 1866–1994 compiled by Ryuta Minami … The other is that it provides a large number of pictures of productions both of Shakespeare in Japan and of Japanese traditional theatre.' Akiko Kusunoki, Tokyo Woman's Christian University

In this book, originally published in 1999, leading Shakespeare scholars from Japan and the West broke new ground by studying the interaction of Japanese and Western conceptions of Shakespeare, and the assimilation of Shakespeare into richly traditional theatre practice. The first part deals with key twentieth-century moments in the production of Shakespeare, including the work of world-famous Japanese directors such as Ninagawa, Suzuki and Noda, while the second part considers parallels and differences between Japanese and western theatre over a longer timespan, focusing on the relationship of Shakespeare to traditional Japanese Noh, Kabuki, Bunraku and Kyogen. Additional features include full-colour illustrations, a comprehensive chronology of Shakespeare performances in Japan and the English text of a celebrated Kyogen adaptation of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Introduction Ronnie Mulryne
Part I. Japanese Shakespeare in Performance: 1. The rebirth of Shakespeare in Japan: from the 1960s to the 1990s Akihiko Senda, translated by Ryuta Minami
2. One man's Hamlet in 1911 Japan: the Bungei Kyokai production in the Imperial Theatre Brian Powell
3. Koreya Senda and political Shakespeare Dennis Kennedy and J. Thomas Rimer
4. The perils and profits of interculturalism and the theatre art of Tadashi Suzuki Ronnie Mulryne
5. Hideki Noda's Shakespeare: the languages of performance Margaret Shewring
6. Japanese Shakespeare and English reviewers Tetsuo Kishi
7. Directing King Lear in Japanese translation Tetsuo Anzai
Part II. Shakespeare and the Traditional Japanese Stage: 8. Preface to the Japanese translation of Renaissance Self-Fashioning Stephen Greenblatt
9. Tragedy and emotion: Shakespeare and Chikamatsu Takashi Sasayama
10. Conflicting authorities: the canonization of Zeami and Shakespeare Gerry Yokota-Murakami
11. Shakespearean drama and the Noh: Theatrum Mundi and nothingness Izumi Momose
12. Tradition and the Bunraku adapation of The Tempest Minoru Fujita
13. The performance of gendered identity in Shakespeare and Kabuki Yoko Takakuwa
14. Kyogenizing Shakespeare Shakespeareanizing Kyogen Yasunari Takahashi
15. The Braggart Samurai: a Kyogen adaptation of The Merry Wives of Windsor Yasunari Takahashi
Part III. Afterword: 16. A playgoer's journey from Shakespeare to Japanese classical theatre and back Robert Hapgood
Part IV. A Chronological Table of Shakespeare Productions in Japan, 1866–1994 Ryuta Minami.

Subject Areas: Shakespeare studies & criticism [DSGS]