Shakespeare and the Japanese Stage

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.

Leading Shakespeare scholars from Japan and the West study the interaction of Japanese and Western conceptions of Shakespeare and the assimilation of Shakespeare into richly traditional theatre practice. There are black and white and full-colour illustrations, and a chronology of Shakespeare performances in Japan.