Madame Hanako (1868–1945) was a Japanese actress who was actively involved in the Western theatrical world in the early 20th century. The fact that she was able to captivate a substantial audience from across Europe for over a decade makes her an important figure in the introduction of Japanese theatre to the West. Scholars have acknowledged her impact on influential Western artists. However, little consideration has been given to the influence of this cross-cultural contact on her performances. Therefore, this paper examines how Hanako’s theatre/performances were altered during her stay in Europe and argues for the significance of this contact between different cultures.
Hanako’s skills as a Japanese actress were based on her experiences as a child actor in touring companies of female performers and as a geisha. Even though she performed minor roles initially, these experiences made her a representative Japanese actor overseas. It was her encounter with an American producer, Loie Fuller, that changed her position and performance trajectory. She cast Hanako in the lead role and made her perform death scenes. Recognising the difficulties involved in the acceptance and appreciation of different cultures, such as the male-centred stage, Fuller ignored Japanese customs and urged Hanako to act in the Western context. Fuller emphasized the otherness of Japanese performers to the extent that was acceptable to the audience.
Owing to this method employed by Fuller, Hanako achieved success but seemed to have been tormented by the thought that she was manipulated by Fuller to act out death scenes. However, her interactions with Western artists such as Auguste Rodin and Konstantin Stanislavsky dispelled such concerns. Through these interactions, she became aware of her own uniqueness as a Japanese performer, and realised that she best demonstrated the kabuki technique through the death scenes.
Portraying death became Hanako’s specialty; even when she was cast in films, she could not escape it. Hanako starred in two films,
La Petite geisha (1913) and
L’Honneur d’une japonaise (1914), produced by Pathé Russe. Through these films, she must have realised that she could be successful outside of her own company. Knowing that she could perform on equal terms with actors from other countries must have boosted her confidence. This experience and self-confidence could have led to her next collaboration with multinational actors in London.
Hanako played the role of Lady Isabel in a burlesque of
East Lynne in a revue,
Odds And Ends, in 1914 and appeared as a British sailor in another burlesque of
A Japanese Melodrama in a revue, More, in 1915. Around the same time, Hanako performed
Otake and
Ki-Musume at the Ambassadors Theatre. Thus, the audience enjoyed watching the Hanako they knew play different roles. At that time, Hanako had become one of the important members of actors enlivening the London theatrical world.
Subsequently, Hanako, who was initially treated as an outsider, eventually became a member of the inner circle, creating the stage together with other actors in Britain/London. Hanako’s position changed from being a guest performer to being a co-star during her long stay in the West. Ultimately, her success made kabuki more accessible to Western audiences.
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