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New Japanese Theatre

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 December 2021

David Goodman
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Extract

When European theatre was introduced to Japan, Kabuki (including its bastard offspring Shimpa—Kabuki-style modern theatre) was practically the only theatre there was, and it consequently became the referent for all theatrical endeavor. Kabuki actors and Kabuki language, Kabuki gestures and Kabuki notions—there was nothing else. When in the early 1920s Aoyama Sugisaku directed a play using the vernacular, he was met with praise from some quarters, contempt from others, but amazement from all. It was thus natural for Osanai Kaoru to see Kabuki as a vehicle for modern theatre. In a lecture delivered in Moscow, Osanai declared:

The future of Japanese theatre will see a synthesis of all Asian art traditions, including those of India, China, Siam, and the islands of the South Pacific, as well as further incorporating the European dramatic tradition. New art will have to be created from these materials.

Type
Tradition and the Modern Theatre
Information
The Drama Review , Volume 15 , Issue 2: Theatre in Asia , Spring 1971 , pp. 153 - 168
Copyright
Copyright © 1971 The Drama Review

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References

1 Shigetoshi, Kawatake and Masao, Shimomuro, eds., Gendai engeki koza [A course in contemporary theatre], vol. 6 (Tokyo: Mikasa Shobo, 1959), p. 81.Google Scholar

2 These categories were suggested by those, listed by Senda Akihiko in “Shogekijo no Zohansha-Tachi” [Iconoclasts of the Little Theatre], Bijutsu techo, May 1970, p. 13.

3 Quoted in Senda, “Shogekijo,” p. 42.