UNITED KINGDOM: JAPAN'S SHAKESPEARE COMPANY STAGE FIRST JAPAPENSE ADAPTATION OF MACBETH AT THE EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL

Record ID: 389999

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: JAPAN'S SHAKESPEARE COMPANY STAGE FIRST JAPAPENSE ADAPTATION OF MACBETH AT THE EDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL
  • Date: 19th August 2000
  • Summary: SCENE FROM MACBETH.
  • Embargoed: 3rd September 2000 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment,General
  • Reuters ID: LVA2DKDEEE3B6G8MR0GRWQXMQJ1T
  • Story Text: Nearly half a million people are set to visit Edinburgh
    this year for what are in reality a series of festivals
    stressing different aspects of the arts. The Fringe continues
    to outshine its older sibling, The International Arts
    Festival, with an infectious mixture of performances with an
    international flavour. Among the best examples is Japan's
    Shakespeare Company, which has just staged the first Japanese
    adaptation of Macbeth, known in theatrical circles as "The
    Scottish Play," ever to be produced in Edinburgh.



    The Japanese Shakespeare Company players have
    transferred Macbeth to the Shogun world of North Japan in the
    year 1000 AD.

    The usual aspects of violence and treatchery from
    Shakespeare's original production live on against a backdrop
    of the shifting sands which were Japanese politics at this
    time.

    Kazumi Shimodate, the Artistic Director of The
    Shakespeare Company, Japan, says he wanted to dramatise the
    important similarities between the cultures of Scotland and
    Japan.

    "We are from the North of Japan, you see," he says.

    "And we have a style called North Japanese. It features
    the region's vibrant dialect. And facinating adapations. So,
    since we are from the North, the Scottish people's minds will
    echo with ours. It's quite natural for us."
    The company won respect from the festival organisers for
    their enthusiasm.

    The only rehersal time they could get in the theatre, a
    former Church, was in the early hours of the morning just
    after they had stepped off the plane from Japan.

    Their motivation: a love of language in general and the
    work of the Bard in particular.

    Makiko Hoshi, who plays Lady McBeth, says: "There are
    similarities between North Japanese languages and Scottish.

    "So I want the audience to enjoy those similarities. Our
    spirits are very similar. I am so glad that I can be here and
    take part in this play."
    The fringe does not have luxurious facilities backstage.

    But the cast didn't seem to mind. The capacity crowds- quite
    literally, standing room only - provided them with all they
    needed:
    Ryogoku Kouichi, who plays Macbeth, says :"We've got
    accustomed to working at many places, anywhere in fact.

    "So we don't mind whether the venue is small or large,
    or whether the conditions are spartan. We sometimes play
    outside, for example. We got emotional strength from the
    theatre audience. And we are very, very happy to be here"
    Critics heaped praise on the production.

    The influential Scotsman paper called it faultless and
    dynamically choreographed.

    And the international audience approved, too, even
    though they did not understand every word.

    One Scot said: "I thought it was absolutely fantastic.

    Vivid. Flamboyant. It is sometime since I have read the text
    but I could still very easily understand what was going on.

    Just absolutely fantastic. Very well done."
    An Englishwoman said: "I thought it was wonderful. And
    not necessarily the sort of show I would choose to go to. But
    my neice chose it. And I loved it. Ï thought it was wonderful.

    Every minute of it."
    An American theatre graduate said: "I thought it was
    spectacular. It was really exciting. My degree is in theatre,
    so I am very familiar with Shakespeare and it was really
    intersting to see the eastern interpretation of it. I have
    also studied a little bit of Japanese theatre, some Kaboki and
    Japanese No theatre, and they really did an interesting blend
    of Eastern and Western styles."
    There were emotional scenes at the end of the last
    performance.

    The Shakespeare Company of Japan had taken the Scottish
    Play to the capital of Scotland - and it had worked.

    It was, in the words of the one of the cast, a
    high-point in their lives - which they would never be able to
    repeat.
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