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0521590248 - The Theatre of Suzuki Tadashi - by Ian Carruthers and Takahashi Yasunari
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The Theatre of Suzuki Tadashi




Suzuki is Japan’s best-known director. He has been internationally acclaimed for his postmodern adaptations of classics by Nanboku, Euripides, Shakespeare, and Chekhov since the 1970s, and, equally, for his powerful actor-training system, which combines elements of Noh and Kabuki with Western realism. Inviting artists from around the world to perform at his Toga and Shizuoka International Festivals, Suzuki has fostered productive exchanges with Jean-Louis Barrault, Robert Wilson, Kanze Hisao, Ashikawa Yôko, and numerous others. This book, the first comprehensive study of any Asian theatre director in this series, traces Suzuki’s rise from Little Theatre director to international festival celebrity, links his unique Surrealist dramaturgy with his intercultural training system, and gives indepth descriptions of his most acclaimed productions.

IAN CARRUTHERS has taught in the Theatre and Drama Department of La Trobe University since 1985. He is co-editor (with Minami Ryuta and John Gillies) of Performing Shakespeare in Japan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001) and has contributed chapters to Shakespeare’s Books: Contemporary Cultural Politics and the Persistence of Empire (eds. Philip Mead and Marion Campbell, Melbourne: University of Melbourne Press, 1993), Shakespeare: World Views (eds. Heather Kerr, Robin Eaden, and Madge Mitton, Newark: University of Delaware Press, 1996) and Fifty Key Directors of the Twentieth Century (eds. Shomit Mitter and Maria Schevtsova, London: Routledge, forthcoming in 2004).

TAKAHASHI YASUNARI, sadly, died in 2002. He was Professor Emeritus of English Literature at the University of Tokyo and Professor of English at Showa Women’s University, Tokyo. His extensive writings reflect his wide range of interests, with special focus on Shakespeare, Lewis Carroll, Samuel Beckett, and Japanese Noh drama. Takahashi also wrote dramatic works which have been staged in Tokyo, London, and elsewhere to great acclaim. He was awarded a CBE in 1993.

What characterises modern theatre above all is continual stylistic innovation, in which theory and presentation have combined to create a wealth of new forms – naturalism, expressionism, epic theatre, and so forth – in a way that has made directors the leading figures rather than dramatists. To a greater extent than is perhaps generally realised, it has been directors who have provided dramatic models for playwrights, though of course there are many different variations in this relationship. In some cases a dramatist’s themes challenge a director to create new performance conditions (Stanislavski and Chekhov), or a dramatist turns director to formulate an appropriate style for his work (Brecht); alternatively a director writes plays to correspond with his theory (Artaud), or creates communal scripts out of exploratory work with actors (Chaikin, Grotowski). Some directors are identified with a single theory (Craig), others gave definitive shape to a range of styles (Reinhardt); the work of some has an ideological basis (Stein), while others work more pragmatically (Bergman).

   Generally speaking, those directors who have contributed to what is distinctly ‘modern’ in today’s theatre stand in much the same relationship to the dramatic texts they work with, as composers do to librettists in opera. However, since theatrical performance is the most ephemeral of the arts and the only easily reproducible element is the text, critical attention has tended to focus on the playwright. This series is designed to redress the balance by providing an overview of selected directors' stage work: those who helped to formulate modern theo- ries of drama. Their key productions have been reconstructed from promptbooks, revues, scene-designs, photographs, diaries, correspondence and – where these productions are contemporary – documented by first-hand description, interviews with the director, and so forth. Apart from its intrinsic interest, this record allows a critical perspective, testing ideas against practical problems and achievements. In each case, too, the director's work is set in context by indicating the source of his ideas and their influence, the organisation of his acting company, and his relationship to the theatrical or political establishment, so as to bring out wider issues: the way theatre both reflects and influences assumptions about the nature of man and his social role.

Christopher Innes





TITLES IN THIS SERIES




André Antoine: Jean Chothia
Adolphe Appia: Richard C. Beacham
Ingmar Bergman: Lise-Lone and Frederick J. Marker
Roger Blin: Odette Aslan, translated by Ruby Cohn
Bertolt Brecht: John Fuegi
Peter Brook: Albert Hunt and Geoffrey Reeves
Joseph Chaikin: Eileen Blumenthal
Jacques Copeau: John Rudlin
E. Gordon Craig: Christopher Innes
Vsevolod Meyerhold: Robert Leach
Ariane Mnouchkine: Adrian Kiernander
Harold Prince: Foster Hirsch
Max Reinhardt: John Styan
Peter Stein: Michael Patterson
Giorgio Strehler: David Hirst
Andrzej Wajda: Maciej Karpinski
Robert Wilson: Arthur Holmberg
Suzuki Tadashi: Ian Carruthers and Takahashi Yasunari

Figure 1 Suzuki Tadashi.





The Theatre of Suzuki Tadashi




IAN CARRUTHERS
AND
TAKAHASHI YASUNARI





PUBLISHED BY THE PRESS SYNDICATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
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© Ian Carruthers, Takahashi Yasunari 2004

This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception
and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements,
no reproduction of any part may take place without
the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

First published 2004

Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge

Typeface Palatino 10/12.5 pt.   System LATEX 2e   [TB]

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data
Carruthers, Ian.
The Theatre of Suzuki Tadashi / Ian Carruthers and Takahashi Yasunari.
   p.   cm.   (Directors in perspective)
ISBN 0 521 59024 8
1. Suzuki, Tadashi, 1939–   2. Theatre – Production and direction – Japan.   I. Yasunari, Takahashi, 1932–2002.   II. Title.   III. Series.
PN2928.S87C37   2004
792.02′33′092 – dc22   2003055394

ISBN 0 521 59024 8 hardback

The publisher has used its best endeavours to ensure that the URLs for external websites referred to in this book are correct and active at the time of going to press. However, the publisher has no responsibility for the websites and can make no guarantee that a site will remain live or that the content is or will remain appropriate.





for Kazuko and Michi and in memoriam Takahashi Yasunari (9.2.1932–24.6.2002)





Contents




List of illustrations page xi
Acknowledgments xvii
List of abbreviations xxi
Chronology xxiii
 
  Introduction. Suzuki’s work in the context of Japanese theatre 1
Takahashi Yasunari
 
1 Rethinking Japanese theatre: cracking the codes 6
Ian Carruthers
 
2 Inaugurating an age of decentralization 34
Ian Carruthers
 
3 Suzuki Training: the sum of the interior angles 70
Ian Carruthers
 
4 Adaptation of Japanese classics: On the Dramatic Passions Ⅱ and John Silver 98
Ian Carruthers
 
5 Suzuki’s Euripides (Ⅰ): The Trojan Women 124
Ian Carruthers
 
6 Suzuki’s Euripides (Ⅱ): The Bacchae 154
Ian Carruthers
 
7 Suzuki’s Chekhov: The Chekhov and Ivanov 180
Ian Carruthers
 
8 Suzuki’s Shakespeare (Ⅰ): Macbeth 210
Ian Carruthers
 
9 Suzuki’s Shakespeare (Ⅱ): King Lear 247
Takahashi Yasunari
 
Notes 255
Select bibliography 282
Index 286




Illustrations




All photographic illustrations come from the Suzuki Company archives and attributions have been made on the best advice currently available from the Japan Performing Arts Foundation.

  1 Suzuki Tadashi. Photograph: Japan Performing Arts Foundation (JPAF). page iv
  2 Suzuki giving notes during a rehearsal at the Waseda Shôgekijô (Waseda Little Theatre) Studio in 1973. Shiraishi Kayoko faces him in the front row. Photograph: Mochizuki Kazuo. 15
  3 Princess Taema (Saitoh Ikuko) seduces the mountain-ascetic Narukami (Fukao Yoshimi). Shite, shite, dôja (And Then, And Then, What Then?) at the Waseda Shôgekijô (Waseda Little Theatre) Studio, 1968. JPAF archive. 17
  4 Love scene between the Takarazuka otokoyaku (male impersonator) Kasugano (Shiraishi Kayoko) and Midorigaoka (Yoshiyuki Kazuko). The Virgin’s Mask, 1969. JPAF archive. 22
  5 Actors dance off the stage and down the hanamichi (exit ramp) through the packed audience. On the Dramatic Passions I. Waseda Shôgekijô (Waseda Little Theatre) Studio, 1969. JPAF archive. 24
  6 Above the lakeside amphitheatre designed by Isozaki Arata are, from left to right, the current Toga Sanbô (Mountain Hall), Isozaki’s foyer, and the old Sanbô. Photograph: Furudate Katsuaki. 39
  7 The Doctor (Tsutamori Kôsuke) yells at Minoru, “I’ll give you a shot with this syringe.” Night and Feast Ⅳ. Toga Sanbô 1979. JPAF archive. 45
  8 Frontal view of Isozaki Arata’s Toga Sanbô with anodized aluminum stagefloor. The shôji (sliding screens) have been removed from the width of the playing space to reveal the backstage passageway. Toga, 1980. Photograph: Furudate Katsuaki. 46
  9 The Man (Robert Wilson) and The Woman (Sugiura Chizuko) prepare to feed/kill their children, two of whom read manga comics on stools while two sleep under futons. The Prologue to Deafman Glance. Toga Sanbô. First International Toga Festival, 1982. Photograph: Furudate Katsuaki. 50
10 The intimate Globe-style ACM Theatre, Mito, 1990. Designed by Isozaki Arata. JPAF archive. 57
11 A male cross-dresser (Fueda Uichirô) fantasizes being Juliet with a chorus of lovers. In his imagination he decks out the wheelchair-bound male inmates of his hospital ward with red high heels, revealing mini-kimono in bridal white, black bonnets and white umbrellas. Waiting for Romeo. Mito, 1994. Photograph: Tsukasa Aoki. 60
12 “First sight of ‘Romeo.’” An aging actress (Ellen Lauren) fantasizes being Juliet with a chorus of lovers. In her imagination she decks out the wheelchair-bound male inmates of her hospital ward with red high heels, revealing mini-kimono, black bonnets, and white umbrellas. Waiting for Romeo. Toga amphitheatre, 1993. JPAF archive. 61
13 Aerial view of the Atelier Theatre (shaped like the cone of Mount Fuji, top left) and the Open-air Theatre (with its backdrop of trees, center), flanked by guest accommodation, the rehearsal halls, and the SPAC administration building (lower center). The Shizuoka Performing Arts Park, 1998. SPAC archive. 64
14 Aerial view of the Toga Art Park of Toyama Prefecture, showing the SCOT facilities above the Momose River. From left to right along the riverbank are two dormitories, three guest chalets (for six visiting directors), the octagonal Studio theatre, The Volcano restaurant, and the lake which forms a backdrop to the Amphitheatre. Two very long hanamichi (entrance ramps) project out from the stage into the lake, left and right. Above this open-air theatre are, from right to left, the First Toga Sanbô (Mountain Hall), Isozaki’s foyer, the Second Toga Sanbô, the administration building and rest house, the new centrally heated Toga Sanbô, and, top left, the guest house and company refectory/reception hall. JPAF archive. 65
15 Training on the stage of the Toga Sanbô, 1976. The actors are chanting text while slowly raising and lowering the center of gravity in what is now called Basic No. 1. Photograph: Mochizuki Kazuo. 83
16 Seigen (Shiraishi Kayoko) struggles with Sota (Kanze Hideo). Scene 8 of On the Dramatic Passions Ⅱ. The Récamier Theatre, Paris, 1972. JPAF archive. 99
17 The madwoman playing Seigen (Shiraishi Kayoko) hones a kitchen knife. Scene 4 of On the Dramatic Passions Ⅱ. Waseda Shôgekijô (Waseda Little Theatre) Studio, 1973. Photograph: Yoshizawa Tachio. 104
18 The madwoman playing Ochô (Shiraishi Kayoko) twisted up in restraining ropes. Scene 5 of On the Dramatic Passions Ⅱ. Waseda Shôgekijô (Waseda Little Theatre) Studio, 1973. Photograph: Hosoe Eikoh. 110
19 The street girls (Tateno Momoyo and Kuboniwa Naoko) shout abuse at the cross-dressed “Koharu” (Takemori Yôichi). John Silver. Saitama, 1996. Photograph: Miyauchi Katsu. 120
20 The Chorus bring little gifts wrapped in knotted scarves to Hecuba (Shiraishi Kayoko) for her dead grandson (foreground). The Trojan Women. Iwanami Hall, 1974. Photograph: Tomiyama Haruo. 131
21 The Greek warriors (Suzuki Kenji to the left; Tsutamori Kôsuke to the right) march past the Trojan captives. The Trojan Women. Toga amphitheatre, 1982. Photograph: Furudate Katsuaki. 132
22 Shiraishi Kayoko transforms from Hecuba into Cassandra, rising in shamanic trance. The Trojan Women. Théâtre des Nations, Paris, 1977. JPAF archive. 136
23 A Greek warrior (Suzuki Kenji) slices into the arm of the Chorus woman protecting the baby Astyanax. The Trojan Women. Toga amphitheatre, 1982. Photograph: Takakura Kazuta. 144
24 Sugiura Chizuko as the raped woman in black slip (Andromache) limps past the spirit of Astyanax’s nurse, Jizô, and the Chorus. The Trojan Women. Toga amphitheatre, 1982. Photograph provided by Kita Nihon Shinbun. 145
25 Jizô (Shin Kenjirô) acts as tour guide for battlefield tourists (Tsutamori Kôsuke, third from the right), flanked by the spirit of a giant Japanese soldier. The Trojan Women. Iwanami Hall, Tokyo, 1974. Photograph: Yoshikoshi Tatsuo. 149
26 Male vagrants in women’s underwear (Fueda Uichirô in foreground) cavort around Pentheus (Shiraishi Kayoko). The Bacchae. Iwanami Hall, Tokyo, 1978. Photograph: Sasaki Wataru. 157
27 The priests of Dionysus stab Pentheus (Nishikibe Takahisa) to death in a swirl of motion. Dionysus. Toga, 1990. Photograph: Mori Yasuhiro. 167
28 Dionysus at the Herod Atticus amphitheatre, Athens. The First International Theatre Olympics, 1995. From left to right are Agave (Ellen Lauren), the dancing maenads, seated priests, Kadmus (Tsutamori Kôsuke), and man in wheelchair. Photograph: Eleni Grigoriadou. 174
29 “The body as moving sculpture.” Agave (Ellen Lauren) enters with the head of Pentheus. Kadmus (Tsutamori Kôsuke, right) sits in meditation beside the body of Pentheus, lower center. Dionysus. Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza, 1994. JPAF archive. Photograph provided by Teatro Olimpico. 178
30 Olga (Ishida Michiko), Masha (Takahashi Hiroko), and Irena (Ginpunchô) crouch on their chairs, flanked by Vershinin and Toozenbach (Nishikibe Takahisa and Katoh Masaharu) in baskets. Three Sisters. Toga Sanbô, 1989. Photograph: Saito Tsuyoshi. 182
31 From the right, Ania (Takemori Yôichi), Ranyevskaia (Shiraishi Kayoko), Lopakhin (Tsutamori Kôsuke), and Gayev (Sakato Toshihiro) squat while Yasha (Yoshihama Hideo) swims drunkenly past in a basket. The Cherry Orchard. Seibu Studio, Tokyo, 1987. Photograph: Miyauchi Katsu. 183
32 Ranyevskaia (Shiraishi Kayoko) makes a grand entrance to the waltz from Gounod’s Faust as Lopakhin (Tsutamori Kôsuke), Gayev (Sakato Toshihiro), and Ania (Takemori Yôichi) step back, in waltz time, in surprise and fascination. The Cherry Orchard. Toga Sanbô, 1986. Photograph: Miyauchi Katsu. 189
33 Professor Serebriakov (Fueda Uichirô) raves in morning coat and loincloth as Sonia (Ishida Michiko) and a Basket Man (Katoh Masaharu) listen. All except Sonia wear false noses attached to horn-rim glasses. Uncle Vania. Toga Sanbô, 1988. Photograph: Miyauchi Katsu. 192
34 Sonia (Ashikawa Yôko) observed sleeping by the Basket Men (Katoh Masaharu, Nakajima Akihiko, Nishikibe Takahisa, and Togawa Minoru). Uncle Vania. Toga Sanbô, 1989. Photograph: Miyauchi Katsu. 193
35 The Basket People collapse and writhe around Ivanov (Tsutamori Kôsuke) to suggest social breakdown. Ivanov. Mito, 1992. Photograph: Tsukasa Aoki. 204
36 A chorus of Basket People with rakes, hoes, and ladles prepare for battle with Ivanov in a comic, slow-motion parody of Macbeth’s witches (compare with Figure 39). Ivanov. Mito, 1992. Photograph: Tsukasa Aoki. 206
37 The mental patient playing Macbeth (Toyokawa Jun) watched by the Doctor (Fukao Yoshimi). Yoru to tokei (Night and the Clock). Waseda Shôgekijô (Waseda Little Theatre) Studio, 1975. JPAF archive. 215
38 Two Macbeths (Kanze Hideo and Tsutamori Kôsuke) face off in the banquet scene. Utage no yoru Ⅲ (Night and Feast III). Toga Sanbô. 1978. JPAF archive. 221
39 Farewell Cult “witches” (Matthew Crosby foreground) pound their staves into the ground while chanting a fiercely energized “Double double, toil and trouble” to intimidate “Macbeth” (compare with Figure 36). The Chronicle of Macbeth. Playbox Theatre, Melbourne, 1992. Photograph: Reimund Zunde. 227
40 Fireworks explode around the Old Man, who imagines himself to be “Macbeth” (Tsutamori Kôsuke). Greetings from the Edge of the Earth Ⅰ. Toga amphitheatre, 1993. Photograph provided by Tokyo Shinbun. 241
41 The Nurse (Yoshiyuki Kazuko) plays the role of Fool during the felt-footed horses scene with King Lear (Tom Hewitt). King Lear. Tokyo Globe, 1989. Photograph: Furudate Katsuaki. 249
42 Lear (Fueda Uichirô) carrying in the dead Cordelia (Mishima Keita). King Lear. Mito ACM theatre, 1993. Photograph: Tsukasa Aoki. 251




Acknowledgments




I would first like to pay special tribute to Takahashi Yasunari, who passed away before this book could be published. Although his long and valiant battle with cancer left him too ill to contribute substantially to the writing of it, he was nevertheless able to offer illuminating advice and direction, and very generously and patiently read, critiqued, and corrected my draft chapters as they appeared. His spirit has palpably enriched both Suzuki’s work and my own. It is some small consolation that he had read the final draft and knew the end of our labor was in sight.

   I would also like to thank the many other people who have helped contribute toward this book: Suzuki Tadashi for graciously granting interviews, the opportunity to take part in SCOT training, and access to his company archives in Toga, Tokyo, and Shizuoka; Saitoh Ikuko for scrupulously checking the accuracy of my Suzuki Chronology, the List of Illustrations, and all the subsequent chapters; Katoh Masaharu, Suzuki Osamu, and Iwakata Kenichirô for their patient help in locating materials and checking queries in the JPAF archives; and indeed all the members of SCOT, ACM, and SPAC, past and present, for their unfailing kindness and mesmerizing creative energies; Kawamizu Mihoko, our research assistant, for painstakingly amassing almost everything written by or about Suzuki from 1965 to 1994 in Japanese; Kazuko Eguchi, Noyuri Liddicutt, Masako Yoshida, Aya Power, Kayoko Hashimoto, Tony McGillycuddy, and Kameron Steele for their help with translation of large sections of this written record; Richard Moore, Tony Chapman, and Marianne McDonald for sharing videos of SCOT performances not available in the NHK series Suzuki Tadashi no sekai (The World of Suzuki Tadashi); Togawa Minoru, Katoh Masaharu (again), and Deborah Leiser-Moore for Suzuki training instruction; Suzuki Kenji, Ellen Lauren, Leon Ingulsrud, and the cast of The Chronicle of Macbeth for performance interviews; Carrillo Gantner for allowing me to observe the whole process of The Chronicle of Macbeth; Norman Price for helping to organize the 1992 Melbourne Performance Research Group Conference on Suzuki Tadashi at Melbourne University; my honors and postgraduate students for their lively and critical responses to this research: Greg Dyson, Katherine Lander, Patricia Mitchell, Kathleen Doyle, Marjorie Dean, Zhao-hui Wang, Mary-Rose Casey, Sarah Riley, Sahar Abdul-Fattah, Laura Sheedy, and Nicola Wilks; La Trobe University for an ARC Small Grant to cover research assistance; the Japan Foundation for a Fellowship in 1993 which enabled me to travel with Suzuki’s company for six months; Sir Q. C. Lee of the Hang Seng Bank for a generous grant to bring James Brandon and Minami Ryuta to the 1996 Asian Studies Association of Australasia Conference at La Trobe University; and Christopher Innes and Victoria Cooper of Cambridge University Press for their patience, expert advice, and editorial assistance. Last, but not least, heartfelt thanks to all those who have helped prepare me for this project: Michael and Maureen Carruthers, who first introduced me to Japanese culture at the age of seven; Alan Heuser and Donald Theall of the English Department at McGill University in Canada, who encouraged me to take a year abroad at ICU in Tokyo; my graduate school teachers at the Harvard-Yenching Institute, Edwin Cranston, Nagatomi Masatoshi, John Rosenfield and Benjamin Rowlands in Boston; and, in Japan, my teachers of Noh (Hirota Norikazu, Udaka Michishige, and Rebecca Teele) and Kabuki (Nakamura Matagoro, Sawamura Tanosuke, and Nakamura Matazô); finally, my partner Kazuko for her endless patience and support over many years.

   Chapters Seven and Eight are significantly reworked and expanded versions of my articles on “Suzuki Tadashi’s ‘The Chekhov’: Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vania,” in Modern Drama, XLIII: 2 Summer 2000, 288–99; and “The Chronicle of Macbeth: Suzuki Method Acting in Australia, 1992,” in Performing Shakespeare in Japan, eds. Minami Ryuta, Ian Carruthers, and John Gillies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 121–32.

   Takahashi Yasunari’s Introduction and Chapter Nine are reprinted, with the kind permission of the publishers, from “Suzuki’s work in the context of Japanese Theatre”, SCOT: Suzuki Company of Toga, trans. Takahashi Yasunari, Matsuoka Kazuko, Frank Hoff, Leon Ingulsrud, and Jordan Sand (Tokyo, 1991); and “Tragedy with Laughter: Suzuki Tadashi’s The Tale of Lear,” in Performing Shakespeare in Japan, eds. Minami Ryuta, Ian Carruthers, and John Gillies (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 112–20.


NOTE

Japanese names in this book follow conventional Japanese usage; the surname first, followed by the given name, except when citing a source which uses the English convention or when referring to Japanese persons resident outside Japan.

   A macron (^) over a Japanese vowel indicates that the vowel is long. The macron is not used in the case of familiar words such as “Tokyo”, or when an h is used instead, as in “Noh”.





Abbreviations




SCOT: Suzuki Company of Toga, situated in Toga village, Toyama Prefecture
JPAC: Japan Performing Arts Center, Tokyo, run by Suzuki’s company; now the Japan Performing Arts Foundation (JPAF)
ACM: Acting Company Mito in Mito City, Ibaraki, where Suzuki was artistic director from 1992 to 1996
SPAC: Shizuoka Performing Arts Center in Shizuoka City, Shizuoka Prefecture, where Suzuki became the artistic director after leaving ACM
NHK: Nihon Hôso Kyôkai, Japan Broadcasting Corporation
WFS: Waseda Free Stage (Waseda Jiyû Butai)
WLT: Waseda Little Theatre (Waseda Shôgekijô)




Chronology




1939 (20 June) Born in Shimizu, Shizuoka Prefecture.
1954 Enters Junior High School in Tokyo.
1958 Enters Waseda University. Joins Waseda Jiyû Butai (Free Stage) Drama Society.
1959 Directs Chekhov’s The Anniversary (June).
1960 Becomes president of Waseda Jiyû Butai.
Directs Betsuyaku’s Kashima ari (A Vacancy) and Hokuro sôsêji (Hokuro Sausages) (May).
Directs Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman (Dec.).
1961 Directs Chekhov’s Three Sisters (June).
Directs Betsuyaku’s A to B to hitori no onna (A and B and a Certain Woman) (Nov.).
Directs Sartre’s Les Mouches (The Flies) (Dec.).
Forms Waseda Free Stage Company (named after the Waseda student drama society) with Betsuyaku Minoru (born 1937) and 12 actors, including Ono Hiroshi (Dec.).
1962 Directs Betsuyaku’s (The Elephant) at Haiyûza (April). Betsuyaku has writer’s block for the next four years.
Revives A and B and a Certain Woman (June) and The Elephant (Nov.).
1963 Revives Sartre’s The Flies (Jan.).
Revives The Elephant at Kyoto Yasaka Kaikan (Oct.).
1964 Directs Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire (Feb.).
1965 No productions.
1966 Suzuki forms Waseda Shôgekijô (Waseda Little Theatre) with Betsuyaku, Ono, Saitoh Ikuko, Tsutamori Kôsuke, and others (March).
Directs Betsuyaku’s Mon (The Temple Gate) based on Kafka’s At the Door of the Law at Art Theatre Shinjuku Bunka (May).
Raises money to build Waseda Shôgekijô (Waseda Little Theatre) Studio on the second floor of the Mon Cheri coffee shop by October.
Directs Betsuyaku’s Matchi-uri no shôjo (The Little Match Girl) (Nov.).
Directs Nobeyama Masayuki’s Shokudai (Candlestick) (Dec.).
1967 Directs Dazai Osamu’s Usagi to tanuki (Rabbit and Raccoon) (Feb.).
Directs Dazai Osamu’s Shitakiri suzume (Tongueless Sparrow) and Satoh Makoto’s Watashi no Biitoruzu (My Beatles) (April).
Directs Betsuyaku’s Makushimirian hakase no bishô (The Smile of Dr. Maximillian) (June).
Revives The Little Match Girl (Nov.).
1968 Revives The Elephant at Kinokuniya Hall (Jan.).
Betsuyaku wins Kishida Prize for Playwriting (Feb.).
Directs Shite, shite, dôja – Kabuki jûhachiban (And Then, And Then, What Then? A Kabuki Classic), based on the Kabuki play Narukami (April–June).
Directs Donzoko ni okeru minzoku-gaku-teki bunseki (Folkloric Analysis of The Lower Depths) (Nov.).
Revives The Little Match Girl (Dec.).
Directs Satoh Makoto’s Chikatetsu (Subway) for NHK TV.
1969 Directs Gekiteki naru mono o megutte I (On the Dramatic Passions I) (April–June).
Directs Waiting for Godot for NHK TV (June).
Betsuyaku leaves company (Aug.).
Directs Kara Jûrô’s Shôjo kamen (The Virgin’s Mask) and revives On the Dramatic Passions Ⅰ (Oct.–Nov.).
1970 Interviews Trevor Nunn of RSC with Takahashi Yasunari (Jan.).
Directs Gekiteki naru mono o megutte Ⅱ (On the Dramatic Passions II) (May–June).
Directs Natsu shibai howaito komedii (Summer Drama: White Comedy) with Noh actor Kanze Hideo and Shingeki actors, including Yoshiyuki Kazuko (Aug.).
Directs On the Dramatic Passions Ⅱ and Ⅲ (Nov.–Dec.).
1971 Revives On the Dramatic Passions Ⅰ and Ⅱ at Osaka Mainichi Hall, Kyoto Miyagawa-cho Kaburenjô, and The Little Match Girl at Osaka Mainichi Hall (May).
Directs Somekaete gonichi no omemie (Re-dyed Later Appearances) (Nov.–Dec.).
1972 Suzuki and Shiraishi participate in Théâtre des Nations Festival workshop in Paris (April). Shiraishi wins international fame.
Writes NHK radio drama Oni nite sôrô (A Demon There Was) (July).
Directs Don Hamlet (Sept.–Oct.).
Develops Shintai kunren (Physical Training).
1973 Publishes Naikaku no wa (The Sum of the Interior Angles), Jiritsushobô (March).
Revives On the Dramatic Passions Ⅱ (Feb–April) and tours it to the Nancy International Theatre Festival, France (April–May); Récamier Theatre, Paris (May); and Mickery Theatre, Amsterdam (May–June).
Grotowski visits Japan, attends Waseda Little Theatre (WLT) rehearsals, and is interviewed by Suzuki for the theatre magazine Shingeki (New Drama) (Aug.).
1974 Suzuki appointed artistic director of Iwanami Hall, first directing Toroia no onna (The Trojan Women) (Dec.–Jan.). With Shiraishi (Hecuba), Noh actor Kanze Hisao (Old Man, Menelaus), and Shingeki actress Ichihara Etsuko (Cassandra, Andromache).
1975 Tours On the Dramatic Passions Ⅱ to Warsaw (Théâtre des Nations) and Wroclaw (June).
Directs Yoru to tokei (Night and the Clock) (Oct.–Dec.). This collage Macbeth wins Kinokuniya Prize for “Japanization” of Shakespeare (Dec.).
1976 Visits abandoned farmhouse in Toga village (pop. 1,300) in the Japan Alps (Feb.) and leases it. Begins intensive training.
Lease of Waseda Shôgekijô (Waseda Little Theatre) Studio in Tokyo expires (March).
James Brandon reports on Suzuki’s theatre training for The Drama Review.
Opens his farmhouse-theatre, the Toga Sanbô (Mountain Hall), with Utage no yoru I (Night and Feast I) and performances by Kanze Hisao and Toga villagers (Aug.).
1977 Directs Takahashi Yasunari’s Kagami to kanran (The Looking Glass and Cabbages) in Tokyo (March–April).
Invited by Jean-Louis Barrault to tour The Trojan Women to Paris (Théâtre des Nations), Rome (La Ressegna Internazionale di Teatro Popolare), Lisbon, Berlin, and Bonn (Bonn International Theatre Festival) (May–June).
Directs Utage no yoru Ⅱ (Night and Feast Ⅱ/Salome) in Toga (Aug.).
Publishes Gekiteki gengo (On Dramatic Language) with Nakamura Yûjirô, Hakusuisha (Feb.).
Publishes Gekiteki naru mono o megutte: Suzuki Tadashi to sono sekai (On the Dramatic Passions: the World of Suzuki Tadashi), Kôsakusha (April).
1978 Directs Bakkosu no shinnyo (The Bacchae) at Iwanami Hall (Jan.–Feb.). With Shiraishi (Pentheus, Agave) and Kanze Hisao (Dionysus). When the latter dies, the performance is terminated.
Directs Utage no yoru Ⅲ (Night and Feast Ⅲ/Macbeth) in Toga (Aug.). With Tsutamori Kôsuke (Macbeth 1) and Kanze Hideo (Macbeth 2).
Restages Salome in Tokyo (Oct.–Nov.) and Nagoya (Dec.).
Directs Shi no kage (Shadow of Death) at Festival d’Automne, Paris (Nov.–Dec.).
1979 Tours The Trojan Women from Nagoya to Hokkaido (April), Milwaukee, New York (May), and Nagano, Kanazawa, and Toyama (June).
Directs Utage no yoru Ⅳ (Night and Feast Ⅳ) in Toga (Aug.).
Directs Katei no igaku (Home Medicine), an adaptation of Roland Topor’s Joko’s Anniversary, in Tokyo (Nov.–Dec.).
1980 Teaches Suzuki Training at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee (Jan.–March).
Tours The Trojan Women to Ôtsu (May).
Builds new Toga Sanbô (Mountain Hall) and entrance lobby, designed by Isozaki Arata (Aug.).
Revives Dramatic Passions Ⅱ and The Trojan Women in Toga (Aug.).
Opens new theatre-studio in Ikebukuro, Tokyo (Nov.).
Publishes Engekiron: katari no chihei (Collected Theatre Writings: Horizons of Deception), Hakusuisha (May).
1981 Teaches Suzuki Training at The Juilliard School in New York (Jan.), the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee (Feb.).
Revises The Bacchae as a bilingual production involving actors from the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee (Feb.–April), Toga (Aug.), and at Sogetsu Hall, Tokyo (Sept.). With Tom Hewitt (Pentheus) and Shiraishi (Dionysus, Agave).
Directs Sweeney Todd for Tôhô at Imperial Theatre (July–Aug.). With Matsumoto Kôshirô and Ôtori Ran.
Directs The Trojan Women in Fukumitsu (May), Yokohama, and Yao Seibu Hall (Nov.).
1982 Teaches Suzuki Training at The Juilliard School, the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee, and the University of California at San Diego (March).
Builds Greek-style amphitheatre in Toga, designed by Isozaki Arata.
Forms Japan Performing Arts Center (April).
Tours bilingual The Bacchae to New York and The Trojan Women to St. Louis, Chicago, and New York (May–June).
Holds symposium on “Culture and Theatre” with Victor Turner, Gunji Masakatsu, Takahashi Yasunari, and others in Toga (Aug.).
Holds First International Toga Theatre Festival (July–Aug.). With Robert Wilson, Terayama Shûji, Tadeusz Kantor, Meredith Monk, John Fox, and others. Suzuki redirects The Trojan Women in Toga.
Revives The Trojan Women in Gifu (Nov.), Nagoya, and Tokyo (Dec.).
Publishes Suzuki Tadashi no sekai (The World of Suzuki Tadashi), ed., Saitoh Setsurô (Tokyo: Shinpyôsha) (May).
Publishes Bunka no genzai: engeki o tôshite (Modern Culture Through Theatre), Toyama-ken shokuin kenshûjo.
Directs Chûsankai (The Formal Lunch) at theatre studio in Ikebukuro (Dec.–Feb.).
Gives public lecture on “Theatre and Modern Culture” at Meiji University (published 1983).
1983 Directs Ôhi Kuraitemunestora (Queen Clytemnestra) at Second International Toga Theatre Festival (Aug.).
Robert Wilson rehearses Tokyo section of the CIVIL warS with SCOT, Kanze Hideo, and the Butoh company Byakkosha (April).
Launches JPAC annual Toga International Actor Training Program (July).
Revives The Trojan Women in Shimizu, Shizuoka-ken (Sept.).
Directs Higeki: Atereusu ke no hôkai (The Tragic Fall of the House of Atreus) at the Imperial Theatre, Tokyo (Dec.). With Nagashima Toshiyuki (Orestes), Ôtori Ran (Elektra), Shiraishi (Clytemnestra), and seventy other actors.
1984 Revives The Trojan Women at Los Angeles Olympic Arts Festival (June).
Jonas Jurasas directs Three Sisters with WLT actors in Toga (Aug.).
Renames his company SCOT (Suzuki Company of Toga) in Sept.
Directs King Lear (with Fueda Uichirô as Lear) and Three Sisters in Toga (Dec.).
Publishes Engekiron: ekkyô suru chikara (Collected Theatre Writings: Energy that Knows No Boundaries), Parco (Aug.).
Publishes Suzuki Tadashi taidanshû (Collected Interviews), Riburopôto (Aug.).
1985 Tours The Trojan Women to San Diego, Washington D.C., London, Copenhagen, Brussels, Athens (Athens Festival), Delphi (International Meeting of Ancient Greek Drama), Thessaloniki (April–June), Frankfurt (Festival Theater der Welt), Udine (Oct.); also Toga and Osaka (July–Aug.).
Tours Clytemnestra to Frankfurt (Festival Theater der Welt), Venice Biennale, and Udine (Oct.); also Toga (July–Aug.).
Tours Three Sisters to Frankfurt (Festival Theater der Welt) and Venice Biennale (Sept.–Oct.); also Toga (July–Aug.) and Tokyo (Nov.–Dec.).
Directs King Lear at Toga (July–Aug.).
1986 Tours The Trojan Women to Geneva, Milan, Madrid (Festival de Teatro), Tenerife, and Las Palmas (Canary Islands) (Feb.–March), Chicago (International Theatre Festival) (May), Seoul (Asian Games Art Festival) (Sept.), and Hong Kong International Theatre Festival (Oct.); also Takaoka, Japan (Oct.).
Tours bilingual Clytemnestra to San Diego (Pacific Rings Festival) (May), Baltimore (International Theatre Festival), Delphi (International Meeting of Ancient Greek Drama), and Athens (Athens Festival) (June); also Osaka (Aug.).
Directs The Chekhov (The Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters) and bilingual Clytemnestra in Toga (July–Aug.).
J. Thomas Rimer translates Engekiron: ekkyô suru chikara as The Way of Acting: the Theatre Writings of Tadashi Suzuki, New York: Theatre Communications Group.
1987 Tours The Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters to Tokyo Seibu Hall (Jan.–Feb.).
Builds Toga Library/Studio Theatre, designed by Isozaki Arata, in cooperation with the University of California, San Diego.
Tours bilingual Clytemnestra to Los Angeles, Berkeley, Milwaukee, and Minneapolis (April); also Toga (Aug.).
Tours The Trojan Women to Paris, Grenoble, Rennes, Bordeaux, and Stuttgart (Festival Theater der Welt) (May–June); also Toga (Aug.).
Tours The Bacchae to Madrid (Festival de Teatro), Bilbao, Pamplona, Antwerp, and Stuttgart (Festival Theater der Welt) (May–June); also Toga (Aug.). With Nishikibe as Pentheus.
Revives Clytemnestra in Toga (Aug.); also Paris (Oct.).
Publishes Kokusaika jidai no bunka (Culture in an Age of Internationalism), Toyama shimin daigaku.
1988 Appointed artistic director of Mitsui Festival in Tokyo.
Directs The Tale of Lear (co-produced by four American regional theatres) in the United States (March–June) and Toga (July–Aug.). With Tom Hewitt (Lear).
Tours Clytemnestra to Yokohama and Amagasaki (March), Shimizu, and Nagasaki (Oct.); also Mito (Dec.).
Directs Uncle Vania and The Cherry Orchard in Toga (Aug.).
Tours The Trojan Women to Mitsui Festival, Tokyo (May–June); also Australian Bicentennial Expo ’88, Sydney (June).
Publishes Engeki to wa nani ka (What is Theatre?), Iwanami shoten (July).
1989 Appointed artistic director of Acting Company Mito (ACM).
Directs bilingual King Lear at Tokyo Globe and Mito (April). With Tom Hewitt (Lear) and Yoshiyuki Kazuko (Nurse).
Directs Yûjinshô: Hamlet yori (Ode to Playboys: after Hamlet) in Toga (Aug.).
Directs The Chekhov (Three Sisters, The Cherry Orchard, Uncle Vania) in Toga (July–Aug.). With Ashikawa Yôko (Sonia).
Tours The Trojan Women to Lahti and Helsinki (ITI International Theatre Festival) (May). Shiraishi’s last performance with SCOT.
Tours The Bacchae to Melbourne (Spoleto Festival) and Canberra (Sept.). With Jim De Vita (Dionysus) and Ashikawa Yôko (Agave).
1990 Opening of ACM Theatre, Mito, designed by Isozaki Arata, with DionysusSôshitsu no yôshiki o megutte I (On the Style of Loss I) (March–April).
Revives King Lear in Mito and Toyama, an English version and a bilingual version at the Mitsui Festival in Tokyo (May). With Tom Hewitt (Lear).
Directs Dionysus in Toga amphitheatre (July–Aug.).
1991 Directs MacbethOsarabakyô no ryûsei (Macbeth – the Rise of the Farewell CultSôshitsu no yôshiki o megutte II (On the Style of Loss II) in Mito with ACM and SCOT (Jan.).
Tours The Chekhov to Purchase, New York, and Stage West in Springfield, Mass. (Feb.).
Tours Dionysus to Moscow (Taganka Theatre) and the New York International Festival of the Arts (June).
Revives King Lear in Toga (July–Aug.). With Fueda Uichirô (Lear).
Directs Sekai no hate kara konnichiwa I (Greetings from the Edge of the Earth I) in Toga (July–Aug.). With Tsutamori as Old Man.
1992 Directs Dionysus – Osarabakyô no tanjô (Dionysus – the Birth of the Farewell Cult – Sôshitsu no yôshiki o megutte III (On the Style of Loss III)) and Ivanov – Osarabakyô no michikusa (Ivanov – the Sidetracking of The Farewell Cult) in Mito with SCOT and ACM. With Ellen Lauren as Agave (Jan.).
Directs The Chronicle of Macbeth in Australia for Playbox Theatre. Tours Adelaide Festival, Melbourne, Geelong, Hobart (Feb.–April), and Tokyo (Mitsui Festival, May). With Ellen Lauren (Lady Macbeth), Peter Curtin (Macbeth), and John Nobbs (Banquo).
Tours King Lear to Mito and Asaba Shuzenji onsen in Izu (May); also Toga (Aug.).
Revives Greetings from the Edge of the Earth Ⅰ (Macbeth) and Ⅱ (Ivanov) in Toga (Aug.).
Tours bilingual Dionysus to Vienna (Art Carnuntum) (June) and Saratoga Springs in New York State (Sept.); also Toga (Aug.).
Founds SITI (Saratoga International Theatre Institute) with Anne Bogart at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
1993 Directs Ivanov and Juliet in Mito (Jan.).
Tours King Lear to Fujisawa, Shimizu (Feb.), Asaba Shuzenji onsen in Izu (May); also Toga (Aug.).
Revives Greetings from the Edge of the Earth I in Toga (July–Aug.).
Directs Juliet – Greetings from the Edge of the Earth Ⅲ in Toga (July–Aug.). With Ellen Lauren (Juliet), Takahashi Hiroko (Nurse), and Kameron Steele (Romeo).
Tours Dionysus to Santiago (Chile International Theatre Festival), Buenos Aires, and Sao Paulo (April–May).
Tours King Lear and Juliet to Saratoga Springs, N.Y. (Sept.).
Forms committee of International Theatre Olympics organization with Yuri Lyubimov, Tony Harrison, Heiner Müller, Robert Wilson, and others.
Publishes Engeki to wa nani ka? (What is Theatre?) in South Korea (May).




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