The art of stillness : the theatre practice of Tadashi Suzuki

116 Pages·3.667 MB·x, 214 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.\116

by  Paul Allain.

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THE ART OF STILLNESS
For the memory of Don, for Augustine and for Jo
Copyright © Paul Allain, 2002.
All rights reserved. No pan of this book may be used or reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quo
tations embodied in critical anicles or reviews.
First published 2003 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN™
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ISBN l-4039-6170-0
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data available from the
Library of Congress.
First published in the United Kingdom in 2002 by Methuen Publishing Limited.
First PALGRAVE MACMILLAN paperback edition: May 2003.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 I
Printed in the United States of America.
CONTENTS
•
0 N E : Introducing Suzuki: Inspirational Sources, Festivals
and Theatre Communities I
T W 0 : Suzuki Now 35
T H R E E : Suzuki's Spaces: Toga Village, Mito City,
Shizuoka, A Sacred and Open Home 57
F 0 U R : The Suzuki Method: The Basic Exercises, Ten
Ways of Walking, Slow ten tekka ten, Stamping Shakuhachi,
Standing and Sitting Statues, Voice, Fundamental Principles,
Qyestions of Training, Voice and Cross-cultural
Investigations, New Explorations 95
F I V E : Suzuki's Performance Practice: Collage, On the
Dramatic Passions II and Kayoko Shiraishi, The Trojan
Women and Greek Adaptations, Shakespeare, Chekhov 137
Afterword 189
Bibliography 193
Notes 199
Index 208
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
•
I would like to thank the Arts and Humanities Research Board,
Goldsmiths College and the University of Kent at Canterbury for
generously allowing me the time and opportunity to write this book.
I would also like to thank the Japan Foundation for their grant to
Methuen to assist with publication costs and the Sasakawa
Foundation for funding a research trip to Japan.
The following have all assisted me, either in thinking through the
content or by offering their time or other resources and skills: Peter
Bailie; Fran Barbe; Jon Brokering (for the best sort of informal
collaboration); Antje Diedrich; all at Methuen, but especially Michael
Earley who was the original commissioning editor, Eleanor Knight,
and Eugenie Boyd for her enthusiasm, insight and curiosity;
Robert Gordon; Jen Harvie; Peter Hulton; Mamoru Iriguchi; Joanna
Labon; Dick McCaw; Katie Mitchell; Patrick Morris for his incisive
mind and the benefit of his rich experience; Ichiro Nakayama;
Sophie Nield; John Nobbs and Jacqui Carroll of Frank for their
warm help in Toga, their interviews, copious material including
photographs, their enthusiasm, and fruitful discussions; Ikuko Saito
for thoughtful and essential assistance with my second trip to
Toga; Yoshiko Sakai; Richard Schechner; Simon Shepherd; and
Wlodzimierz Staniewski for first taking me up the mountains to
Toga. I would also like to thank Ellen Lauren for patiently giving me
her precious time for interviews, for her generous contribution to
I some of the ideas in this book and for allowing me to observe her
teaching. Kelly Maurer also kindly let me watch her teach and I am
immensely grateful to her and to Will Bond, Patrick Morris, Tom
I
Nelis and Kameron Steele for interviews which were conducted in
New York and in Derry in 1996.
I
I
lI IX
•THE ART OF STILLNESS•
Cha~ter T.hree is based loosely on my article 'Suzuki Training'
publts.hed m the Drama Review, Vol. 42, No. r, Tr5 , Spring 3
7 199
copyright New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of ONE
Technology. I would like to thank Kath Ratcliff for modelling the
'Suzuki method' photographs. •
NOTE
It is a hotly debated subject, but Japanese names are given here in a
Western order with surnames last, rather than the system native to
INTRODUCING SUZUKI
Japan - e.g. Tadashi Suzuki and not Suzuki Tadashi. The Western
order has predominated in previous studies of Suzuki's work Tadashi Suzuki has played multiple roles for over forty years,
(i~cluding his own book The Wtry of Acting) and is therefore more including that of director of a large number of performances, many
widely known and recognised, which explains my hesitant of which have attracted acclaim around the world. His creation and
prefe~enc~ for this book. Awareness of the implications of this theorisation of his training system - the Suzuki method - has
ordermg is growing (e.g. Drama Review, Spring 2000, follows the transformed comprehension of the performer's vocation and the
~apane~e sys~em) .. Some sources cited adopt the Japanese model so processes of preparation. He continues to gather international
mco~s1stenc1es might occur in a few references. Similarly, I use the plaudits, which he first received in the early 1970s, the decade after
sp~llmg n~h throughout, though there are several ways of writing he began his theatrical explorations as a student. Such recognition
this, creatmg further inconsistencies. I give kabuki a lower-case 'k' has even resulted, to name one illuminating example, in his receipt
and place it in italics throughout, but there are, of course different in 1994 of the Order of Art and Cultural Merit of France. Since his
ways of writing this word. ' beginnings in Tokyo, he has developed his practice in various urban,
rural and semi-rural sites throughout Japan, including the remote
mountain village of Toga which he has called his and his group's
home. Throughout his career Suzuki has integrated Eastern and
Western sources, the urban and the rural, as well as the contemporary
and the traditional. His !ife and work are full of such doublings. This
opening chapter will introduce some of the characters and influences
encountered on his long and varied journey. It will also establish how
Suzuki arrived where he is today.
Phrases like 'the Suzuki method', 'the Suzuki Company' and the
title of this book all endorse the singular accomplishments of one
man, but Suzuki's practice is inevitably the result of several
collaborations. The playwright Minoru Betsuyaku worked with him
throughout the 1960s, before Suzuki started to generate his own
mises-en-scene and dramaturgy. This was also before Betsuyaku pursued
a more solitary career and became one of Japan's most successful
playwrights, with over sixty plays to his name. Ikuko Saito has
x
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~~-----------------~---
•THE ART OF STILLNESS•
•INTRODUCING SUZUKI•
collaborated since the 1960s, first as actress and then as administrator
manner. Whatever the attractions or detractions, Suzuki training has
being Managing Director of SCOT (the Suzuki Company of Toga)
and G;ne~al Secretary o~ ]PAC (the Japan Performing Arts Centre), spread around the world and co~tinue.s to b~ in~uential and chal
lenging. These issues will be examined in passing in the next chapter
SCOT s sister organisation. Suzuki has worked with the world
and in detail in Chapter Four.
renowned architect Arata Isozaki for over twenty years in order to
Suzuki is also recognised for the emphasis he has placed on the
realise his vision of appropriate sites for his theatre events. Actor
need for companies to create a home for their theatre activities. He has
Tsutamori Kosuke has performed with Suzuki since the days of the
followed this process through somewhat extravagantly, resulting in t~e
Waseda Little Theatre in the late 1960s and is just one of many
building of several theatres of differing dimensions and styles m
company members who have played out the director's dreams, several
locations throughout Japan. He is an extremely successful entrepreneur,
of them over decades rather than years. The actress Kayoko Shiraishi
who operates on a large scale with multimillion-pound budgets. Yet
was the most celebrated of these. Initially untrained, Suzuki shaped
this business acumen is strongly rooted in cultural rather than
her as much as she formulated and put into practice his vision. Even
commercial priorities and a socially committed artistic visio~. His
the mayor of Toga has been an accomplice for decades. He has
longest standing and most recognised material achievement 1~ the
underpinned the large-scale international festivals and Suzuki's
transformation of the small village of Toga-mura (mura means village
material expansion in the tiny village with financial and infrastructural
in Japanese) into an international theatre centre. Thi~. is in Toyama
support. Suzuki does not hide the contribution each of these has
prefecture (a prefecture is the rough equivalent of a British county) on
made. I also hope to do them justice, even if I consider their
achievem~nt~ only i~ Suzuki's terms rather than in their own right. the opposite side of Honshu island from Tokyo. There he has h~sted
annual festivals with performances from the likes of Robert Wilson
After all, tt ts Suzuki who has amalgamated their and his resources
and Tadeusz Kantor. Without being sentimental, his participation in
with such substantial consequences for contemporary theatre. But
what are the ramifications of these collaborations? the village's cultural life has transforme~ and possibly save? thi~ small
community from extinction. The establishment of SCOT s residence
. Suzuki's vision has entered discourses and practices world-wide.
has not, however, prevented him from pursuing projects further afiel~,
Hts most recognised contribution has been his insight into how and
and he has also developed extensive arts complexes closer to Tokyo, in
for ~h.at end the actor might be trained. His rigorous approach to
Mita City and Shizuoka, as demonstrated in Chapter Three. All these
exercis~ng the. performer's body-mind* uses fixed positions and
sites have fed his aspiration to decentralise artistic activity in Japan,
deceptive~y simple . locomotive movements. This physicality is
which historically has been concentrated in larger urban centres and in
extended into the voice by linking action to the breath and the text.
Fo~ some, it is an answer to the vagaries of psychologically dominated Tokyo. . . .
actt~g and ~he constraints of realism. For others, it provides a daily The global influence of the constructions themselv~s i~ inevitably
rout~~e. which hones mental abilities - concentration, rhythmic partly limited by the fixity of architecture and the s~ecific1ty of their
use. Several of Isozaki's larger-scale overseas projects, such as the
sensitivity and spatial awareness - as much as it coaches muscles
~a~y Team Disney building in Florida (1990), are ';idely recog_nised. as
.find it refreshingly challenging regarding the vexed issues of
disctphne, individualism and creativity in training, and the role of the challenging postmodern paradigms. But Suzuki s collaboratt~n with
Isozaki has made a compelling contribution to the perplexed issue of
teacher or trainer. It certainly demands an authoritative teaching
space in contemporary performance. Their theatre buildings attempt
to be 'open' and 'sacred' and foster a sense of a company ho~e,
*By body-:-mind I mean the body's integrated psycho-physical infrastructure which
many trammg methods I . concepts that Suzuki has articulated in his book Th: Way of A~tm?.
. . exp ore, most recognisably the approaches of Konstantin
Stamslavsk1 and Jerzy Grotowski. Isozaki has designed and built both intimate and epic spaces within
the same arts complexes and unified these by technical devices and
2
3
•THE ART OF STILLNESS•
•INTRODUCING SUZUKI•
l~nking concepts. These are demonstrably and overtly public, and yet
singularly tailored for Suzuki's needs and wishes. The combined describe his re-rooting. His 'gods' are not cultural~y sp.ecific or
anthropologically modelled, but energetic and phys1olog1cal. The
accessibility and flexibility of staging that Suzuki also prioritises are
fundamental for any theatre director today. Chapter Three reveals performer has a sense of speaking through. the gods o~ stage,. but the
how such principles have been put into practice. deities' nature is not prescribed. The audience perce1:es t~ts as .an
Aesthetically, Suzuki and Isozaki have tried to integrate traditional altered mood, a precise external focus and a physical mten~tty.
Japanese spatial values with European ones, in particular those found Suzuki's chosen mode of performing is energised, forward-fact~g
and combative. The performer is exposed and vulnerable on stage m
in ancient Greek and Shakespearean theatres. They blend up-to-date
technologies with lessons from the past, when theatres were located this highly charged state. Rather than attempting t~ suppress .these
outdoors or were open to the elements. Through a symbiotic qualities or mask or eradicate them with relaxation techniques,
relationship between theatre and the natural environment, they have Suzuki proposes that they should be cultivated and harnessed. Th.e
sought to revitalise the spectator's way of perceiving the event itsel( training helps the performer come to recognise and control ~his
Suzuki's desire to create 'sacred' spaces and raise theatre above process. Specific use of the space enhances an~mal energy, revealing
the individuals rather than hiding them behmd scenery or props,
mundanity has been enhanced by siting buildings in out-of-the-way
and rural surroundings. Yet, as the example of Mito shows, he can showing them metaphorically in 'dialogue' with the gods. .
also adapt some of these ideals to an industrial city. The concept of animal energy recognises an essent.tal
characteristic of performing - the need for the performer to survive
Japan's main religions of Shinto and Buddhism possess intrinsic
links to nature, recalling that this was an agricultural nation until on stage rather than 'die'. This is, of co~rse, the. recogni~~d term f~r
m~dernisation in the twentieth century. Suzuki may be drawing on someone who fails to hold an audience s attention, familiar even m
th ts, but more concretely he is remembering the premodern * roots of Shakespeare's day. Encouraging animalistic. sensitivi~ shifts the
theatre and in particular noh, the classical Japanese dance-theatre performance away from being an aesthetic entertainment. and
form that o~iginate~ in the fourteenth century. He wants to bring 'the towards a transgressive interactive event. As self-appointed
1
gods (kamr) back mto Japanese theatre culture, even if in a recon representatives, the performers play out human conc:rns ~nd f~ ars.
str~cted and more personal form. These spirits were displaced by the They become partners with the audience in a social ritual m .a
rational and political slant and the realism of shingeki,t on which I shared 'sacred' space, where the presence of the gods ts
elaborate later in this chapter. David Goodman has described this · acknowledged by both parties, however individually these gods a~e
erstwhile break from the spiritual in his Japanese Drama and Culture in perceived. This is similar to Jerzy Grotowski's 'total act' of public
the Ig6os: The Return of the Gods. Suzuki was part of the 1960s sacrifice which the audience witnesses.* The spectators almo~t
counterculture against this rupture, as Goodman points out. actively 'participate' in the event through the vitality of their
A key concept in Suzuki's theatre is 'animal energy'. In broad
terms, he wishes to conjure in performance the equivalent of the * Suzuki has been labelled the 'Japanese Grotowski', which in part shows the es~eem in
gods of kabuki and noh, but he uses this more 'pagan' notion to which he is held. Jn 1971 he had reviewed Towards a Poor Theatre f~r a Jap~nese Journal
and there are obvious correlations in their focus on the physical . actions of the
performer. But this designation reveals a narrow Western per~pect1;e that h~ has
* P~emodern means pre-1868 and the Meiji reformation, when Japan opened up to continually tried to challenge and such comparisons are finally m1sle~dmg. Suzuki ~as
the mfluences of Westernisation and modernisation.
more interested than Grotowski in textual adaptation and culturally diverse refe~en~mg.
t 'N~w.th~atre' is a direct translation of shingekiwhich denotes a Japanese theatre Their contact in the 1970s, in Western Europe, Poland and wh~n Grotowski .bn~~~
tshtyel ec htmap1tteart1. ve of Western European naturalism. I discuss this in more detail later in visited the WLT in Japan in 1973, came at a time when Grotowski was aban~omng
spectator-actor relationship to focus on the :vork of the pe~ormer. Suzuki, however,
has continued his investigations into the public theatre event itself.
4
5
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.::---~--
•THE ART OF S
TiLLNEss.
•INTRODUCING SUZUKI•
physical responses, which affect the ' .
continuously interactive cycle. performers impulses in a
materiality and mundanity, however sacred the context. Suzuki's
With such values Suzuki's fc emphasis on the feet reminds us that we all need the ground to stand
around the world at ~arious fe te~ ormances have created ripples
on and that we all turn eventually to dust.
1980s. The Trojan Wt. . s Iva s, particularly in the 1970s and
In a similar vein, Suzuki occasionally reveals an almost self
of these. It shockeodmen, ds~arnng Sh.iraishi, was the most celebrated
au 1ences with it b . denigrating, or at least diffident, relationship to his performances. He
contained and channelled by th . s ruta 1ity and anguish,
often jumped on to the outdoor amphitheatre stage in Toga with
Little Theatre's actors as SCO~ ngoro~ discipline of the Waseda
microphone in hand to chat to the audience as soon as a piece had
considered to have e~b d' d S waks' t en known. Shiraishi was
· 0 le uzu i's visio h finished. (This can be seen at the end of a video recording of
Cieslak exemplified Grotowsk1''s . Fo r t hi's andn, hme uc h as Rd yszard Clytemnestra, which shows scant time for the spectator to absorb the
presence, she was applauded int . r c arge stage
Th ernat1ona 11 y. production's impact.) This book does not give any insights into
ese performances led to Suzuki's in . . . Suzuki's personality other than what is revealed through passing
American universities Man Wi v1tat1ons to teach at several
analysis of such behaviour, together with his theories, practices and
remote mountains of.J y est~rn pe:formers also trekked to the
writing (which also show the great seriousness with which he takes
. apan to tram during WLT/SCOT'
international workshops fr s extensive
8 his chosen metier). Neither does it attempt an investigation of
the WLT's own da1'ly t . o.m r9 3 onwards. This followed on from
raining programm h · h Suzuki's character, though this would certainly divulge intriguing
during their annual two month . . e, w Ic they maintained
traits.
- visits to the mo t · ti
to 1980. Opening up the t . . . un ams rom 1976
The VVity of Acting is perhaps the best key to Suzuki's personality.
raining in Toga combi d . h h
seas touring of Suzuki' 'd' . ' ne wu t e over-
It may disclose how his mind works but reveals almost nothing about
Greek dramas led to ms 1 .1osyncllrabt1c but affecting interpretations of
' aJor co a orative · · his performances. It collates five essays, extracts from an unpublished
Australia. The most prominent f h projects m America and
diary and the text of Clytemnestra. The whole ranges from a
Tale of Lear (1988) and The Cho .t/, e~~ were The Bacchae (r981), The
humorous discussion of white radishes (a 'ham' actor is called a
mixing Japanese and Am . romc e <!I Macbeth (1992), the first two
encan casts These h . d 'radish' actor in Japan) to sociological concerns about the survival of
source texts that incl d d . synt es1se a range of
E u e contemporary and . both theatre and other communities, peppered with illuminating but
astern and Western infl ancient material
uences and sometim I ' transitory insights into his processes. The social function of theatre
'Such juxtapositions and intermin . es .~~ anguages.
permeates the book. Suzuki's concerns lie beyond the purely
a collage' style that I . d . ghng were m1t1a1ly contained by
Ch exp o1te irony and q t . d personal or artistic: 'Where I want to go with theatre is to approach
apter Five. Suzuki is often d "b d uo at1on, etailed in
and deal with problems or issues which cannot be solved by
artist, in spite of th I escn e as a consummate postmodern
individuals in their daily lives.'2 In his writing, Suzuki's humanity
questionable genealogyec ofmp ex problematics of this labelling. The
o postmodernism i J · . fuses appealingly with his demanding rigour.
~o Ja~anese theorists' symbolic 'b ' n apan Is eptto~ised by
Suzuki's capacity and desire to explicate his work and theories has
there is no need fc d . oast to Jacques Derrida that
or econstruct1on as th h meant that principles of his theatre practice have reached a wider
construct in Japan', I S k" ere as never been a
d . . n uzu i's perform h" audience beyond spectators alone. Few may have seen his
un ermined by scatolog1'c l ti ances, igh culture is
ch aracter recites cl . a1 or unctional m oments o f acti.o n. One performances, yet central tenets of his vision, such as animal energy,
S ass1ca poetry as h 1 have gained widespread recognition. He has published twelve books
entimental pop so~gs are la e . anot er s urps noodles.
in Japan and central sections of his major writings have been
We should not approach : y k~' with a sense of sophisticated irony.
published and republished in English. His writing style is direct, clear
much reverence. He pla ~~~ I s adaptations of classics with to~
and light-hearted, opening up Japanese performance culture to
y y and constantly reiterates human
Western readers in the way that Eugenio Barba has elucidated Asian
6
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•THE ART OF STILLNESS•
•INTRODUCING SUZUKI•
performance techniques through his Internatio
Anthropology (ISTA) * Suz k" . nal School of Theatre Suzuki's writing and practice have made an invaluable
· u t ts 1e ss methodical and
in his tone than Barba Barb , th . more personal contribution to one central theoretical field of late twentieth-century
int~ntion:l;y a:~~:::;1:~~e~s br~~dl~ ~heatre performance - interculturalism. Interculturalism grew out of the
Anthropology) are as
pre-expressivityt and the extra-dail h oc1a ' ocusing on ideological, social and racial aspirations of multiculturalism in the
behaviour that lie outsid . . y, or t ose movements and 1970s which filtered into artistic practices. The search for parity and
has carefully considere; :h!a~~l~eg1;t~r. S~zu~i, on the ~ther hand, harmony was epitomised (albeit questionably) in multiracial,
investigations which draw d ·1 ura dtmpltcattons of hts practical multicultural groups, such as Peter Brook's troupe in France and
' on at Y an extra-daily m .
focus is perhaps inevitable . h. . . ovements. This productions like his Mahabharata (1985). This then led to the more
native sources . . ' given ts asptratton to probe his own realistic aspirations and negotiations of interculturalism.
kabuki with th~i~n1::grt~~diar the lperhf~rma~ce traditions of noh and Interculturalism accepts separate voices and distinct cultural
., comp ex 1stones.
positions without demanding integration or harmony. Instead, it
Suzuki s questioning has been com ounde .
uncertainty about the survival f h fc p d by ongoing prioritises disjunction, fragmentation and contestation, having
petition fro h. . o sue orms in the face of com- affinity with postmodernism. Performance struggles to adhere
b . m ~op tsttcated technologies and mediated d f
uman interaction such as the I . mo es o strictly to ideological positions for it must often pursue the
nation of extensive innovati nte~net provides. Japan is clearly a pragmatism of what works within given constraints, be they
awkwardly alongside these ~n, an_, ~remodern forms like noh sit economic, social or artistic. Interculturalism has been useful for
skewed through th . .f uzukt s mtracu1tura1* introspection is several reasons: for encouraging and exposing such gaps and
e pnsm o cross-cultural f d ·
coilaboration, propagated b th d" . cas mg an international inconsistencies; for informing theoretical debates on the ethics of
which he engages. His practrcaJ :n~v:~s1ty ~f performance texts with practical engagements; and for elucidating a heritage of borrowing
points are eclectic and ac "bl b eorettca1 sources and reference and cross-cultural inspiration. This ran throughout the twentieth
cesst e ut rooted pr · 1 ·
traditions and conditions. ' ectse y m Japanese century and is clearly identifiable from as early as the 1920s in artists
like Antonin Artaud and W B. Yeats. Such a movement continues in
this century with Suzuki. All these artists still generate intercultural
• There are other connections between the tw
cites the Kanze brothers mast o. In The Paper Canoe, Barba repeatedly debates.
. • er exponents of nob tI h
wah Suzuki. Hisao Kanze who k d h leatsre , w o have collaborated Interculturalism has only a generalised meaning that embraces
b est post-Second Word W:a•r h wor e t e most w"1t h uzu k"1 , was reputedly the
no actor and was d · d diverse practices and artists. It represents a way of thinking that
Cultural Asset. This is the h" h ~s1gnate an Important Intangible
tg est status an artist can h · . might, but only might, be overt in performance. Some practitioners,
en d owed by the state Suzuki" d" d d ac teve and ts an honour
. · 1recte Hi eo in h · like Mexican-American Guillermo Gomez-Pena, consciously and
Olympic~ in Shizuoka in 1999. a no piece, Uto, for the Theatre
t Eugenio Barba's almost biolo ical em h . artfully play with and exploit racial stereotyping and cultural
focuses on what is happening ;efore (tut as1s endorses perfo~mance analysis that assumptions, as Suzuki has also done. Others approach
expresses themselves How th d also at the same time as) a performer
interculturalism less wittingly. What is certain is that the redefinition
involuntary physical .proces ey shtan ' the space the body occupies and even
ses sue as the p J JI of terms such as multiculturalism, fusion, intraculturalism and
communication, in spite of h h . u se rate a affect the performer's
:j: 'Intracultural' is how th wAat. t eyhtntend to show. This is the pre-expressive. interculturalism, by the likes of Richard Schechner and Patrice Pavis,
. e stan t eatre expert ] B
cu It ural introspection like S k"' h ames randon has identified has meant that theatre artists can no longer work in ignorance of
. , uzu Is t at feeds on an a t" • . .
S ee hts Contemporary Japane Th r tst s own md1genous sources. post-colonial and global perspectives. They must acknowledge
The Dramatic Touch o• Di11:, se E "keatr~: Intraculturalism and Interculturalism' in
· !I !!Jerence, rt a Fischer L" ht J h" questions posed by the cultural complexity and intermingling which
Gtssenwehrer (eds), Gunter N " I . - tc e, osep me Riley and Michael
arr ver ag, Tubmgen, 1990. the move towards globalisation has produced, even if they do not
specifically intend to answer these in practice. In his writings and
8
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•THE ART OF STILLNESS•
•INTRODUCING SUZUKI•
collaborations as well as in his d .
cogently to such issues. pro uct1ons, Suzuki has contributed
than solitary flight. Suzuki is a master juggler of projects and people,
Another crucial advancement in th knowing how to channel the energies of his partners. Where did he
theoretical parameters f . e attempt to define the gain such abilities? I will briefly investigate the primary factors that
o tntercu 1t ural pr f h
devalorisation of Euroce t . d ac ice as been the shaped Suzuki's artistic practice and outline the context in which he
n nc an Western · ·
promotion of alternative view . pos1t10ns and the has operated in order to attempt to answer this question.
from within our own cultural po1~~s. Rather than responding purely
transculturally and assess how posttroh~· we should attempt to operate
· somet mg works or i d · d Inspirational Sources
its own terms and field R . s ep1cte within
· eceptron of perform .
1
ess~ntially an act of translation bu ance. ts a ways Tadashi Suzuki was born in 1939· He grew up in a country that was
emrc* is useful for guiding 1 ' / the .anthropological notion adjusting to the humiliation of defeat after the Second World War
theorise from a narrow or fi::~ yset o prac~1~e, reminding us not to
and was negotiating the tension between sustaining valued traditions
to move between interior d cu t~ral postt10n. We should be able
and coping with modernisation and Westernisation. After over two
an exterior perspecti . h
one dominating The n . f ves, Wit out either centuries of closure, Japan's openness to the West began in the Meiji
. ecessrty o attemptin t . .
practices (rather than standin aloo g 0 get ms1de theatre period at the end of the nineteenth century, but the American
central to this book. g f as an observer/spectator) is
occupation after the Second World War saw a much more rapid
The interrelationship between emic . transformation. Initially, this accelerated transition period led to
blurred by Suzuki's delib and ettc perspectives are
h erate 1y ec1 e ctic pr t" ff intense financial struggle, with many suffering hardship after the
t eoretical stance are provocative and challen ;c ice. rs . a:uvre and devastation witnessed in cities like Nagasaki and Hiroshima where
the Western perspective which this ~ n~ when viewed from the atom bombs were dropped. Characters in Suzuki's productions,
Asian artist drawing on E book mevrtably takes. As an
such as tramps, 'broken' old people and economic victims like the
. uropean traditions and
materials, he reverses famili . . contemporary Little Match Girl of Betsuyaku's play of that name, personified this
Western outlooks His . ar phos1t10~s and debates derived from
reality. Suzuki's vision that theatre should portray human struggle
. views ave circular d .d l .
academic and professional th e wr e y m Western and 'wretchedness' was rooted in actual poverty and suffering. This
tangible practical influence (wh~;~r~h;p~ere~ n~t just through his outlook incongruously lasted throughout the economic dynamism
through the questions posited b sh. oo. will focus on) but also and prosperity that later followed. It still governs his work today.
However much h b y ts mtercultural theorising
e egan as a Jap , d · Suzuki's use of framing devices that surround and recontextualise
director, Suzuki appears toda as nei anese un. :rground' theatre the texts within his productions may have originated in his
Asian, operating on multipl 1y 1 • ther. definitively Western nor
observation of the rapid conversion that Japan underwent from post
Al h e eve s m multiple spaces
t ough Suzuki has realised few of h . . war poverty to Asian 'tiger' and one of the world's most prosperous
alone (except perhaps his writin h t . e achi:ve'.11ents outlined nations. Change and duality were also evident in the co-existence
depend of course on d"l" g, t ou~h his pubhcat1ons in English
c ' ' 1 tgent translation) h k and shifts between Eastern and Western in Japan. These positions
ior masterminding all . ' e must ta e the credit were contested most fervently during Suzuki's late youth and in the
operat10ns. Collaboration is arguably harder
early years of his practice as a director during his studies at Waseda
* James Brandon has utilised the anthr . University between 1958 and 1964. Thomas Havens has observed
define positions of engagement with ~polog1cal terms 'emic' and 'etic' to help
that 'Japanese artists during the past quarter-century have grappled
drawing on a vocabulary and per . ot er,. perhaps foreign, cultures. Etic means
w h'1I e em1.c means using that wh · shpe ct1. ve wfi hich. we. bring WI" th us tir om the outside, ingeniously with the question of national identity in the most
IC anses rom ms1de a particular culture. international age in Japanese history [. ..] remarkable public
preoccupation, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, with what it means
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