Re-imagining Shakespeare in Contemporary Japan

Tetsuhito Motoyama is Professor at Waseda University (Tokyo) in the Faculty of Law. Publications on Shakespeare and adaptation include co-authored with Kaoru Edo, ‘Strange Oeillades No More: The Three Daughters of Lear from the Tokyo Shakespeare Company’s “Shakespeare through the Looking-Glass”’, Shakespeare 9 no.4 (2013); and co-edited with Hiromi Fuyuki The Text Made Visible: Shakespeare on the Page, Stage, and Screen (2011).Rosalind Fielding is a translator and researcher. Publications include ‘Riots, Cherry Blossoms and Wheelchairs: The Performance Politics of Saitama Gold Theater’ in Performance Research 24 no.3 (2019) and a chapter in Shakespeare in East Asian Education: Schools, Universities and Theatre Education in Hong Kong, China, Japan and Korea (Palgrave).Fumiaki Konno is Senior Assistant Professor at Meiji University (Tokyo) in the Faculty of Commerce. Publications on Shakespeare and adaptation include co-authored with Tetsuhito Motoyama, ‘The Shakespeare Company Japan and Regional Self-fashioning’ in Bard Bites, edited by Kristin Bezio and Anthony Russell (forthcoming); “King Richard II (1857) and Chronicles,” The Bulletin of Arts and Sciences, Meiji University 533 (2018); and ‘Charles Kean’s Edition of Henry VIII: A Study of Its Base Text’, The Bulletin of Arts and Sciences, Meiji University 524 (2017).

• List of ImagesPrefaceGeneral IntroductionShakespeare and AdaptationShakespeare's Reception in JapanEarly Shakespearean Translations and AdaptationsPost-Meiji Performance and TranslationThe Tokyo Shakespeare CompanyKakushinhan Theatre CompanyThe Shakespeare Company JapanThe Three Daughters of LearIntroduction to The Three Daughters of LearInterview: Edo KaoruThe Three Daughters of LearHamlet x Shibuya ~ Light, Was Our Revenge Tarnished?Introduction to Hamlet x Shibuya ~ Light, Was Our Revenge Tarnished?Interview: Kimura RyunosukeHamlet x Shibuya ~ Light, Was Our Revenge Tarnished?The New Romeo and JulietIntroduction to The New Romeo and JulietInterview: Shimodate KazumiThe New Romeo and JulietAppendix 1: A List of Stage Productions by the Three Theatre CompaniesAppendix 2: A List of Shakespeare Productions in the Tokyo Area in 2019Bibliography

The vibrancy of contemporary Japanese theatre is nowhere more evident than in this collection of three plays, all related to Shakespeare, whose texts now serve as a ubiquitous “data base” for Japanese dramatists seeking new creative possibilities, from homage to burlesque. King Lear, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet, here brilliantly expanded and transposed, appear in eloquent translations, accompanied by superlative background essays and interviews. A delight for readers or potential performers.