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Tokyo Arts Festival, 2017, and International Shakespeare Productions



Author(s)

Tomoe KOMINE

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DOI:10.17265/2159-5836/2019.01.013

Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan

In 2017, the Tokyo Arts Festival invited theatre directors from three geographical locations to direct Shakespeare’s plays: The British director John Caird directed Hamlet, the Romanian director Silviu Purcārete directed Richard III, and the Belgian director Ivo Van Hove directed a Dutch Othello. They approached Shakespeare’s plays from unique perspectives, using their own native or Japanese language, working with Japanese and foreign actors and staff. They were performed in Tokyo and watched by various audiences. This paper examines the interactive effect of international theatre and the Tokyo Arts Festival and argues that Shakespeare, being a common currency in the world, functions as media for the Festival, and vice versa. While the Festival provides opportunities and support for foreign directors and companies, staging of international Shakespeare productions raises the profile of the Festival and promotes artistic and cultural programmes and exchange internationally. The audience also has much to gain: the Festival allows them to experience cultural differences and a reflection of themselves or of the world in works of art. The paper argues that the differences created in the international Shakespearean productions and realized and experienced by the audience are the essence of the theatre and meaning and value of the Festival.

Tokyo Arts Festival, international theatre, Shakespeare, John Caird, Silviu Purcārete, Ivo Van Hove