Copenhagen and Chichi to Kuraseba (The Face of Jizo): Two Plays of Memory in Contrast

Abstract

Michael Frayn's Copenhagen (1998) and Inoue Hisashi's Chichi to Kuraseba (literally As I live with my father, translated as The Face of Jizo) (1994) have been praised as highly successful ‘Play of Memory.’ Both plays deal with memories on atomic bomb, one concerning its discovery and the other the result of its explosion. In both plays, memory is the driving force of dramaturgy. But it should be noted that for Frayn and Inoue, the dramatic nature of memory lies not in the representation of the past but rather in the act of remembering. ‘The action in the past’ and ‘the action in the present’ are carefully arranged so as to be fused into one. So we have an impression that the characters are, in a way, rehearsing their past actions. Thus, one may find in both plays a pseudo play-within-play structure.