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Japanese Theatre from the 1980s: The Ludic Conspiracy ROBERT T. ROLF Twentieth-century Japanese theatre grew out of allempts to create a new Japanese theatre befitting the new Japan. As was the case with the immense socio-economic reform Japan undertook in the late nineteenth century, the model for the new theatre was the West, specifically the works of Shakespeare , Chekhov, Gorki, and Ibsen. By the late 192os, what came to be known as shingeki (literally, new theatre) had produced a significant body of artists and works. The new theatre was intellectual in tone and lacked a popular audience. Much of it was characterized by a socialist realism that used the stage for the exploration of socio-political issues. Another strain of the new Western-inspired realistic theatre sought a psychological and lyrical complexity in the vein of the works of Chekhov. Even with the upheavals brought about by World War II, this state of affairs lasted into the 1960s. The generation of artists who began their careers in the 1960s brought about a theatre renaissanc.e that has received increasing scholarly and critical attention. Much has appeared (or is about to) concerning the tent theatres of Kara Juro (b. 194I) and Satoh Makoto (b. 1943), the drama of playwrights Betsuyaku Minoru (b. 1937) and Shimizu Kunio (b. 1936), the avant-gardism of Terayarna Shuji (1935-[983), and the theatre aesthetic of Suzuki Tadashi (b. [939) and Qta Shogo (b. 1939). The new direction taken by these artists is becoming well-documented. Facing a theatre scene dominated by realism and rationality, they worked to restore the primacy of the actor, reduce theatre's dependence on the written word, and re-establish links with an autochthonous premodern Japanese imagination. This involved new configurations of perfonnance and audience space, new relationshi.ps between actor and text, actor and spectator. Although most of these figures are still active, their work already constitutes a considerable legacy. Their dramaturgical innovations have taken hold, influencing younger Japanese theatre artists. I A recognizable style has held sway over the past decade, one that seems Modem Drama, 35 (1992) 127 128 ROBERT T. ROLF to some a continuation of the tradition of the 1960s and to others something different. As will be seen, it may be both. Although not encompassing all of today's nontraditional theatre, this approach predominates among younger artists. A description of its characteristics will be followed by a close look at two compelling works as examples. Listing creates the risk of oversimplification or excessive schematizaliorr, but should provide a preliminary agenda, a starting point for discussion of this remarkable trend in contemporary Japanese theatre. 1 GENERAL TRAITS 1. Socia-political relativism. Japanese theatre today seems to have little interest in making statements. Direct concern with social or political morality is often seen as old-fashioned and inappropriate to contemporary theatre. Supporting this apolitical stance is the notion that one point of view is ultimately as valid as the next. Works by many of Japan's morc creative younger artists are marked by the absence of any easily identifiable ideology, although the lack of an apparent ideological position could be interpreted as constituting one of sorts. Many of the more successful works are tours de force of the creative imagination, the reality presented in the performance meant to bear little relation to conventional, easily recognizable paradigms of everyday life. At any rate, no attack upon such a reality is intended. Items and figures from history and the social milieu are freely dragged in, but lacking any attempt to valorize them. They are more or less equated, morally neutral, so to speak, being merely different pieces of bric-a-brac from different shelves of the contemporary consciousness. 2. Preoccupation with childhood and fantasy. A defining trait of the new Japanese theatre is its frequent use of childhood. Works abound in adolescent and, especially, prepubescent characters. There is a deep fascination with the solipsistic perception that characterizes early childhood, a time of pure experience free from the demands of logic and the need to assess and judge. Selting plays in childhood provides a nalurallink to the world of fantasy. One SOUTce of the new theatre's many...

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