Ashley Allen
English 431
18 December 2022
Southern New Hampshire University
Shakespeare's plays, which are not just the National Literary Treasure of the UK, are
frequently performed in various cultural contexts to exhibit that culture and serve as a vehicle for
reflecting significant historical events that were taking place in other areas at the time. As a
result, Ninagawa's 2012 production of Cymbeline, presented at the Barbican Theatre in London,
not only acted as a locally adapted version of Shakespeare's lesser-known but one of the most
complex plays, it also assuage the fears of the Japanese audience in the wake of the Great East
Japan Earthquake of 2011. This essay will explore the history of Shakespeare in Japan, how
cultural globalization influences critics' reactions to Japanese Shakespeare adaptive responses,
how this particular production by Ninagawa used Shakespeare as a form of media to illuminate
recent news in Japan whilst also testing the understanding of the global platform, all whereas the
evaluating the dissertation.
The first Shakespeare productions in Japan were traditionally performed in English
during 1868 and 1891 in Yokohama mainly by international tourists (Sano 339). At that time,
Shakespeare was one of the methods Japan used to forge its own national identity in the 18th
century. The finest method to civilize and enlighten Japan, according to a fictitious college
student who appeared on stage in one production of The Merchant of Venice from 1885, is
through Eigaku (English instruction) (Japan and Shakespeare). In an effort to modernize the
obsolete delivery of traditional Kabuki-style theatrical performances, the government worked to
promote Shingeki, a major kind of theater in Japan that was founded on contemporary realities,
in the early 20th century with the introduction of English literature.
Shakespeare had a huge surge in popularity in Japan in the 1970s, when the country's
economic prosperity caused the average number of plays to increase to 19 annually (Japan
andShakespeare). Japan is a non-Western first-world country that did not suffer colonialism,
therefore they independently absorbed Popular fiction as well as civilization while taking into
account uneven domination. Shakespeare has really been viewed as a universal force in Japan, a
tool they may use to tell their own stories or improve their standing in the eyes of the world
community.
In a more modern period, Ninagawa was one of the most well-known Japanese
filmmakers for his works devoid of the conventional Orientalism and Japonisme aspects in his
works, among the many Japanese directors that aspire to revolutionize the fusion of East and
West in Shakespeare adaptations. Ninagawa was born in 1935, and most of his formative years
and the beginning of his career were influenced by Japan's post-war rebirth and strengthening of
its national identity. At the time, Japan was attempting to reposition itself in the world, so
Ninagawa came from a generation that was very interested in Europe and Western styles (Huang
95).
According to Conor Hanratty, the author of Shakespeare In The Theatre: Yukio
Ninagawa, Ninagawa's goal is "to communicate to a Japanese audience and rooted in a desire to
move away from the "psychological realism" of European theater and the "artificiality" of the
shingeki theater to create a more "Japanese" kind of contemporary theater" (Yoo 594).
Shakespeare's far-flung and foreign dramatic universe is being translated into a language that the
Japanese audience can readily understand is Ninagawa's method. Due to the fact that this
technique includes performing Shakespeare outside of its Elizabethan setting, frequently for
purposes that are exclusively relevant to Japan at the time.
Ariane Mnouchkine's Richard II, which incorporates elements of the Japanese and
Balinese civilizations, is a perfect illustration of how Shakespeare's cultural adaptations have not
been widely accepted on a global scale. Dennis Kennedy has been more forceful in his criticism
of the Orientalism infused into foreign Shakespeare plays. Although praising Ninagawa's
sonographic beauty, Kennedy contends that Ninagawa, like Ariane Mnouchkine, used traditional
Japanese theatrical forms primarily for the visual effects, a strategy that may be seen as
Orientalism aimed at the international market (Im 10).
Kennedy views Nagawa's usage of Shakespeare as an example of Occidentalism, "a
declaration of interest from an outsider who feels at free to plunder Europe in the same manner
that Europe has historically appropriated Japan" (Joubin 215). Ninagawa claims that his theater
is only intended for the domestic Japanese audience, despite the claims of theatergoers and
Shakespeare scholars that his plays are filled with an Orientalism theme that only appeals to the
Wide variety of consumers.
The idea that Ninagawa's popularity is a result of Japonisme is another significant issue
in criticism of his work. The term "Japonisme" was first used by the French in the late nineteenth
century to characterize the Western world's obsession with Japanese art and design. By avoiding
any political or social criticism in favor of an aesthetic balance, Ninagawa's large-scale
commercial creations, like David Brook's Mahabharata, are examples of Japanese Japonisme.
Ninagawa interpolates his own culture, mostly for the sake of his own Japanese audience, as
opposed to Peter Brook and Ariane Mnouchkine who did the same with the Mahabharata and
Richard II in Shakespeare (In Support of Integration Critique).
Ninagawa's theatrical piece is intended for the international festival circuit, but because
understanding Japan and its culture is essential to understanding his performance's intent, he
imagines the global audience as a buyer of international cultural goods. Shakespeare stays
unduly expressionistic in costume and stage design in the 2012 production of Cymbeline under
Ninagawa's direction, but manages to remain subtle in their speech and delivery, in sharp contrast
to the propensity toward naturalism in conventional Western theater (Im 9). Ninagawa bended
among many civilizations with his usage of clothing, combining the customary Japanese
"hakama" pants with Western armor and Celtic fur coats.
Ninagawa also utilized vibrant red strings, which are frequently used in traditional
Japanese theaters, to portray blood. In addition, Ninagawa, known for his interpretation of
Shakespeare, frequently put young pop singers or ikemen (good-looking) actors in them in an
effort to elevate the status of his theater in Japanese culture. Also, he chose Kenji Urai, who is
more well-known as a teenage heartthrob actor than a skilled theater actor, to play the role of
Guiderius in Cymbeline (Tanaka Remembering the Genius of Japanese Playwright Yukio
Ninagawa - the TheatreTimes).
The single most important aspect of this Japanese production of Cymbeline from 2012 is
that it is the sole instance in his career of Ninagawa using a different text in a Shakespeare play.
The play's concluding scene in the original text is centered around a cedar tree. This is altered to
a pine tree in Ninagawa's play, which is the sole pine tree, or as the Japanese refer to it, The
Miracle Pine Tree (Kiseki no Ippon matsu), which was still standing in Takata Pine Forest in
2011 following the terrible Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami. It serves as a testament to
the people of Japan's perseverance in defying the obstacles of nature (Ninagawa's Cymbeline at
the Barbican). Hence, when Japan was still healing from the Ninagawa's staging of Cymbeline
gave the play's themes a feeling of poignancy and resonance in the wake of the tragic 2011
Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
To sum up, it is important to remember that, due to the main objections of Ethnocentrism
and Strongly impacted in Ninagawa's works, the Japanese are the original intended audience for
these works. As a result, he not only centers his context on the Japanese audience with their own
language and insights, but also includes the subtext of Miracle Pine Tree and the Great East
Japan Earthquake because these are secret comprehension that one cannot correctly interpret
without being in the particular culture. As a result, it not only presents Japanese current events in
a clear and upbeat way for the Japanese audience, but it also gives a global audience a glimpse of
what it's like to view Shakespeare from afar.
References
Shakespeare, William. “Cymbeline”.The Norton Shakespeare, 3rd ed., edited by Stephen
Greenblatt, Norton, 2016, pp. 2775–2864.
Huang, Alexa. Brook, Hall, Ninagawa, Lepage: Yukio Ninagawa. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2013,
pp. 79–112.
Alexa Alice Joubin. “Alexa Alice Joubin, Shakespeare and East Asia. Oxford University Press,
2021.” ResearchGate, Oxford University Press, 30 Mar. 2021 .
Im, Yeeyon. “The Pitfalls of Intercultural Discourse: The Case of Yukio Ninagawa.” Shakespeare
Bulletin, vol. 22, no. 4, 2004, pp. 7–30. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/26349161.
Accessed 15 Dec. 2022.
Yoo, Jennifer. “Shakespeare in the Theatre: Yukio Ninagawa by Conor Hanratty.” Asian Theatre
Journal, vol. 38, no. 2, 2021, pp. 594–97, https://doi.org/10.13202153/atj..0040.
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www.thetimes.co.uk/article/cymbeline-at-the-barbican-ec2-d88xd6576vr.
Tanaka, Nobuko. “Remembering the Genius of Japanese Playwright Yukio Ninagawa - the
Theatre Times.” The Theatre Times, 19 May 2017,
thetheatretimes.com/remembering-genius-japanese-playwright-yukio-ninagawa/.
“In Defense of Intercultural/National Criticism.” Critical Stages/Scènes Critiques, 3 Mar. 2016,
www.critical-stages.org/5/in-defense-of-inter-culturalnational-criticism/.
“Embassy of Japan in the UK.” Emb-Japan.go.jp, 2012,
www.uk.emb-japan.go.jp/en/webmagazine/2012/may/ninagawa.html.
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