Comparative Theatre Review
Online ISSN : 2186-5094
Print ISSN : 1347-2720
ISSN-L : 1347-2720
Article
Quietude in Intercultural Performance
Phillip Zarrilli's Told by the Wind and Yôjirô Okamura's Aminadab
Mari BOYD
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2011 Volume 11 Issue 1 Pages 43-51

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Abstract

“…it's the simple that complicates.” Herbert Blau, Take Up the Bodies
Intercultural theatre has spawned many different kinds of hybrids. Recently the interweaving of different cultures and theatrical styles has become extremely subtle. Among those who devise such complex intercultural theatre are creator-dramaturg-director Phillip Zarrilli and playwright-director Yôjirô Okamura. They use primarily Asian aesthetic principles and training methods in combination with non-Asian ideas and dramatic content to construct highly experimental performances.
This paper will compare their employment of quietude as a central concept in their respective work. Quietude is a Japanese aesthetic principle of minimalism that comprises mainly silence, stillness, and open space. It can include masks and tends towards a “poor” theatre, where the actor's physical presence is dominant on stage. Both artists have a substantial knowledge of nô, as well as postdramatic aesthetics. Furthermore effective actor training is crucial in creating a quiet “theatrical moment”. To this end, Zarrilli utilizes Indian kalaripayattu martial arts, while Okamura combines nô acting with modern training methods.
Specifically I will discuss Told by the Wind (2009), which Zarrilli devised with the Llanarth Group, and Okamura's Aminadab (1997; rev. 2008). The former piece ’dances’ a mindscape where “identity, memory, and remembrance haunt transformation”; it owes its inspiration to string theory as well as to Shôgo Ôta's theatre of divestiture. The latter play makes use of masks to present a theatrical arrangement of Maurice Blanchot's short story, “L'Arret de mort”.

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© 2011 Japanese Society for Theatre Research. Comparative Theatre Section
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