Hoping to provide more than just much-needed entertainment, two traveling theater groups are touring the northeastern Tohoku region, heavily damaged by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, in an effort to link disaster-hit areas and other regions.
Hoping to provide more than just much-needed entertainment, two traveling theater groups are touring the northeastern Tohoku region, heavily damaged by the March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami, in an effort to link disaster-hit areas and other regions.
Well known for its plays performed in the Tohoku dialect, the Sendai-based Shakespeare Company Japan, a local amateur theatrical troupe, toured disaster-stricken areas in Miyagi and other prefectures between fall 2012 and last spring.
The main attraction of the tour was the troupe’s version of “Romeo and Juliet,” which is set in a hot spring resort in the Tohoku region and closes with a happy ending.
According to the theatrical company, when it performed the modified “Romeo and Juliet” for the elderly living in temporary housing, the audience carefully watched the drama as if it didn't want to miss even a single word.
“It was the first time that I have felt people really need our words,” said Kazumi Shimodate, an English literature professor at Tohoku Gakuin University in Sendai, who serves as president of the theatrical company.
Immediately following the disasters two and a half years ago, the Shakespeare Company decided to temporarily suspend its activities because some members had planned to leave the troupe.
“Ishinomaki and Onagawa suffered unimaginable damage,” Shimodate said, referring to municipalities in Miyagi Prefecture. “(We hesitated to) bring our performances to the affected cities and towns.”
Shimodate said, however, encouraged by local residents’ calling on the drama group to perform plays there, his drama company decided to visit heavily damaged municipalities.
The theatrical company president said he regretted that his drama company, which celebrated its 21th anniversary last year, had been interested only in performing in larger cities, such as Tokyo and Sendai.
Because fewer volunteer workers and celebrities visit the affected areas in the winter, local theatrical groups have to take the lead role in encouraging disaster survivors during the colder months.
This winter, the Shakespeare Company is touring disaster-ravaged regions with a comedy version of "King Lear."
“When asked by our audiences to visit them again, I replied, ‘We will be back,’ ” said Masayoshi Fujino, a theater company member and a graduate student from southern Fukuoka Prefecture. “I do not want to turn that promise into a lie.” Fujino also participated in last winter’s tour of the Tohoku region.
Separately, jointly directed by the Aomori Museum of Art and the Japan Foundation, a drama developed by actors and staff members from Japan, China and South Korea is touring the three countries.
In the play titled "Shu/ Gen" (Celebrating/ words), the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami strike a wedding ceremony, leaving survivors with psychological trauma.
The drama features traditional Korean music as well as dances from the three countries, so the joint program can avoid being too heavily dependent on dialogue.
Koji Hasegawa, general director of performing arts at the Aomori Museum of Art, who directed the play, said he feels Japanese living in regions other than the affected areas have not shared the sorrow that disaster survivors have been suffering.
When he was asked by the Japan Foundation to stage the show to introduce Japanese culture also from local areas, Hasegawa thought relations between the nation’s capital and the Tohoku region were similar to Japan's chilly ties with China and South Korea.
Japanese actors were selected primarily from among residents of three disaster-stricken prefectures of Miyagi, Fukushima and Iwate.
“The heavy damage in the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster may have come about as a result of we, adults, giving economic development the greatest priority,” said Nobu Nakajo, one of the Japanese actors, who is from Kurihara, Miyagi Prefecture.
The trilateral drama group has already toured Aomori, Sendai, Seoul and two other South Korean cities, and Shanghai.
Reflecting on a performance in Shanghai, Chinese member Li Dan, who performs on stages both in China and Japan, said, “(Spectators there) paid careful attention to our dialogues and costumes, and grasped the story more deeply than I.”
South Korean actor Kim Seon-hwa said she felt that the audiences viewed their play as being themed on “the universal problems of life and death.”