Kabuki and Shakespeare

Abstract

Japanese adaptations of Shakespeare represent a recent innovative approach to Shakespearean productions. However the Kabuki version of Hamlet staged at the Tokyo Globe was an unsuccessful attempt to play Shakespeare in the Kabuki style. The main reasons for the failure seem attributable to the stress placed on the visual introduction of the Kabuki style, rather than presenting the performance as drama. Kabuki is a very special form of drama which has inherited both the texts and physical tradition of the classic Japanese drama form such as Bugaku, Noh and Joururi. Kabuki is not a modern type of drama which represents things as they are, but a pre-modern drama that expresses reality in abstract style. However, Kabuki preserves the dramatic dynamism and resources that modern drama has lost. Shakespearean drama, which does not embody an inherited physical tradition, shares some of the basic pre-modern characteristics of Kabuki. Both forms of drama mirror contemporary situations and depict universal human problems. Despite the several similarities between Kabuki and Shakespeare, it is not necessary to perform Shakespeare in the Kabuki style as seen at the Tokyo Globe. Shakespeare has long suffered from the realistic approach of directors, which cannot convey the sense of the pre-modern drama. If one attempts to address the dramatic resources of Kabuki and utilize them effectively, then this would undoubtedly enrich the interpretation of Shakespeare.