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Gallows HospitalityVisiting Hangman Takuzō's Garden Theatre
- TDR: The Drama Review
- The MIT Press
- Volume 62, Number 3, Fall 2018 (T239)
- pp. 162-168
- Article
- Additional Information
Abstract:
How does hospitality look and feel at a performed hanging? On a nightly basis, Japanese performance artist Hangman Takuzō would hang himself in his Tokyo garden. For a small fee, audience members witnessed the hangings, but were also welcomed as guests, invited to share refreshments, eroding the border between morbid performance ritual and everyday gestures of fellowship.