Upon Shuji Terayama

Upon Shuji Terayama
Sibiu International Theatre Festival lasted for 2 weeks.I attended it to realise there were various tendencies in the theatrical style.Chinese theatre group performed Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” in the traditional style and Radu Stanca Gozzi’s “Turandot” as a Nazi play.Some audiences are for and others against.As to any performances in the theatre,so many men,so many minds.The same with a history of Japanese theatre,especially “Shingeki”(New Theatre)after Meiji Restoraration(1860).
Theare was a very important lecture on the hisory of Shingek by Oriza HIrata,a leader of company “Seinendan” who is very influential in the young generation theatre group.He criticized theatrical movement of former generation from various points of view.I will not talk about the details because arguments are so complicated.
Generally speaking,it is recognised there is a creator called Shuji Terayama who is out of the current of new theatre after the war.Most men of theatre manifest marxist and socialist thoughts by creating and playing theatres.But he is different and isolated.He went his way with his company “Tenjousajiki(Gallery at the top of the theatre)”.
　He was born in 1935 at Hirosaki city in the nothern part of Japan.They recognized he was so talented in poetry already in his teens and published a lot of Haiku and Tanka(Japanese traditional short poems) on the local letterary magazines.At he age of 18, he went up to Tokyo to enter Waseda university.Since then he spread his litterary world.In 1960 at a director’s request,he wrote a play for the first time.The title is "Bloody Youth" in which he described a group of young men living in the bottom of society.As he sometimes persuaded young men to try runaway from house on his essay,he sympathized with them even in this play.but unfortunately this pkay was not succesful and had not been staged for long time.Last year it was finally staged.Perhaps ouwing to failure of "Bloody Youth",few producers and directors ordered him to write plays.Then he wrote many radio dramas and short expermental piece.Moreover he started to make some short films.Some radio dramas were awarded overseas.He stared to be recognized as a multi-talented creator.
Unfortunately he was not recognized to be a playwright and at the age of 31(1967) he founfed a theatrical laboraroy called “Tenjosajiki”(G allery at the top of theatre).Since foundation of his theatre,his theatre activities got fruitful.He wrote "A Hunchback in Aomori(his native land),”A Crime of a fat woman”,Mary in fur”,etc.
In 1968 he published some plays like “A Thousand and one night story Tokyo version”,”Seven crimes of a countess”,”Blue Beard”,”A Little Prince”etc. As titles are evident,he got inteested in parodies of well-known classical piece of the world.He tried to rewrite them into his works.Most of them are wtty and Japanised.They don’nt depend on words but on visuality.He started to communicate with audiences not by expressing literary words but showing specutaculity.We are accustomed to the traditional spectaculities in Kabuki but we know the New theatre rejects them and we recognize theatre is an art of word.When Terayama got to emphasize some spectacular elements of theatre,his way of making theatre has not benn taken for authentic.Thisis why Terayama continued to make theatre outside the New Theatre.Since then he went on to consolidate his theory:”theatre is spectacle.His performannces have been appreciated overseas.I can numerate his works awarded in western contries in the coming report and will introduce some discussions for Terayama’s thought on theatre.