“Make sense who may.”: The Influence of Samuel Beckett on BETSUYAKU Minoru's Dramaturgy

Abstract

“The theatre of the absurd” exerted a siginifincant influence on the works of Minoru Betsuyaku, one of the leading contemporary playwrights in Japan. This paper explores Betsuyaku's insight into Samuel Beckett's En attendant Godot (Waiting for Godot), Fernando Arrabal's Piquenique en campagne, and Eugene Ionesco's La Leçon, the insight which is reflected in his plays and essays. But Beckett's play, in particular, illuminates the structure of Betsuyaku's plays such as Umiyukaba Mizuku Kabane and Nishimuku Samurai. In these plays Betsuyaku makes Beckett's dramaturgical strategy his own in significant respects.