Director Tadashi Suzuki: His Thoughts and Works

2019/11/07

"I've seen many productions of 'Madame de Sade' before, but it was only through Tadashi Suzuki's direction that I finally understood Yukio Mishima's intentions."

This was a comment from a friend.

'Madame de Sade' is one of Yukio Mishima's masterpieces. Centered on Renée, the Marquise de Sade, the play depicts the Marquis de Sade from the perspectives of six women: his mother-in-law, sister-in-law, friends, and a servant. It is difficult to understand because it employs Mishima's signature brilliant rhetoric and uses many conceptual words. However, under Tadashi Suzuki's direction, it became a remarkably clear and accessible production.

Why was that?

Normally, actors memorize the words written by a playwright and speak them on stage. However, words written by someone else (the playwright) are not the actor's own words. To make them their own, they must live the words with their own body. Merely speaking them is not enough.

Even so, the meaning of the words gets across. The story is understood. The audience watching might think that is a play, but it is not a true play. A true play does not lie in the surface meaning of the words or the story; it only appears when the actor fully lives those words on stage. That is what theater is.

Tadashi Suzuki pursued the idea of actors single-mindedly living these words. As a result, the actors took the words written by the author—someone else's words—and lived them as their own through their bodies. Instead of just the surface meaning or the story, the totality of the language emerged, revealing the hidden depths of the author's spirit. That is why it was so easy to understand.

This was a revolution in the history of theater, a renaissance that revitalized the art form. At the same time, it was one of the turning points from the modern to the contemporary era. This is because the relationship between human language and the body is linked to the very structure of human beings and the question of how we perceive humanity. Therefore, Suzuki's revolution signified a shift from a modern view of humanity to a contemporary one. Tadashi Suzuki carried out that revolution. As for the specific methods he used, you will have to read this book to find out. However, as someone who lived through this era of revolution, I wanted to examine its significance. Consequently, this book also represents the culmination of my life's work.

Director Tadashi Suzuki: His Thoughts and Works

Tamotsu Watanabe

Iwanami Shoten

224 pages, 2,300 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.