Tadashi Suzuki
Encyclopedia
Tadashi Suzuki is a theatre director, writer and philosopher working out of Toga, Toyama
, Japan
. Suzuki is the founder and director of the Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT), organizer of Japan’s first international theatre festival (Toga Festival), co-founder of the Saratoga International Theatre Institute
in Saratoga Springs, New York, and creator of the Suzuki Method of Actor Training. Suzuki also was General Artistic Director of Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC)(1995~2007), an international committee member of the Theatre Olympics, founding member of the BeSeTo Festival (jointly organized by leading theatre artists from Japan, China and Korea) and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Japan Performing Arts Foundation, a nation-wide network of theatre professionals in Japan.
Suzuki’s works include “On the Dramatic Passions”", “The Trojan Women”, “Dionysus”, “King Lear”, “Cyrano de Bergerac”, “Madame de Sade”, etc. Besides productions with his own company, he has directed several international collaborations, such as The Tale of Lear, co-produced and presented by four leading regional theatres in the US”; King Lear, presented with the Moscow Art Theatre
; Oedipus Rex, co-produced by Cultural Olympiad and the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus; and Electra
, produced by Ansan Arts Center / Arco Arts Theatre in Korea
and the Taganka Theatre
in Russia
.
Suzuki has articulated his theories in a number of books. A collection of his writings in English, The Way of Acting is published by Theatre Communications Group
(US). He has taught his system of actor training in schools and theatres throughout the world, including The Juilliard School in New York and the Moscow Art Theatre. The Cambridge University Press
published The Theatre of Suzuki Tadashi as part of their Directors in Perspective series, featuring leading theatre directors of the 20th Century. This series includes works on Meyerhold
, Brecht
, Strehler
, Peter Brook
and Robert Wilson
among others.
He brought his company from Tokyo to the remote mountain village of Toga in 1976. Currently, the Toga Art Park comprises five theaters, rehearsal facilities, offices, lodgings and restaurants, and continues to host both a summer and winter season of performances, symposiums, workshops and competitions.
Toga, Toyama
Toga was a village located in Higashitonami District, Toyama, Japan. Historically, along with neighbouring Taira, Kami-Taira and Shirakawa-go, the four villages formed what was known as the Gokayama region. The region is renowned for a unique type of A-frame housing design. These "gassho-zukuri"...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. Suzuki is the founder and director of the Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT), organizer of Japan’s first international theatre festival (Toga Festival), co-founder of the Saratoga International Theatre Institute
SITI Company
The SITI Company is an ensemble-based theater company whose three ongoing components are the creation of new work, the training of young theater artists, and a commitment to international collaboration....
in Saratoga Springs, New York, and creator of the Suzuki Method of Actor Training. Suzuki also was General Artistic Director of Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC)(1995~2007), an international committee member of the Theatre Olympics, founding member of the BeSeTo Festival (jointly organized by leading theatre artists from Japan, China and Korea) and Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Japan Performing Arts Foundation, a nation-wide network of theatre professionals in Japan.
Suzuki’s works include “On the Dramatic Passions”", “The Trojan Women”, “Dionysus”, “King Lear”, “Cyrano de Bergerac”, “Madame de Sade”, etc. Besides productions with his own company, he has directed several international collaborations, such as The Tale of Lear, co-produced and presented by four leading regional theatres in the US”; King Lear, presented with the Moscow Art Theatre
Moscow Art Theatre
The Moscow Art Theatre is a theatre company in Moscow that the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright and director Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, founded in 1898. It was conceived as a venue for naturalistic theatre, in contrast to the melodramas...
; Oedipus Rex, co-produced by Cultural Olympiad and the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus; and Electra
Electra
In Greek mythology, Electra was an Argive princess and daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra. She and her brother Orestes plotted revenge against their mother Clytemnestra and stepfather Aegisthus for the murder of their father Agamemnon...
, produced by Ansan Arts Center / Arco Arts Theatre in Korea
Korea
Korea ) is an East Asian geographic region that is currently divided into two separate sovereign states — North Korea and South Korea. Located on the Korean Peninsula, Korea is bordered by the People's Republic of China to the northwest, Russia to the northeast, and is separated from Japan to the...
and the Taganka Theatre
Taganka Theatre
Taganka Theatre is a theater located in the Art Nouveau building on Taganka Square in Moscow. The theatre was founded in 1964 by Yuri Lyubimov and continued the traditions of his alma mater, the Vakhtangov Theatre, while also exploring the possibilities of Bertolt Brecht's "epic theatre".Under...
in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
.
Suzuki has articulated his theories in a number of books. A collection of his writings in English, The Way of Acting is published by Theatre Communications Group
Theatre Communications Group
Theatre Communications Group is an organization dedicated to the promotion of non-profit professional theatre in the United States. TCG has over 450 member theatres located in 47 states; 17,000 individual members; and a growing number of University, Funder, Business and Trustee Affiliates...
(US). He has taught his system of actor training in schools and theatres throughout the world, including The Juilliard School in New York and the Moscow Art Theatre. The Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press
Cambridge University Press is the publishing business of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII in 1534, it is the world's oldest publishing house, and the second largest university press in the world...
published The Theatre of Suzuki Tadashi as part of their Directors in Perspective series, featuring leading theatre directors of the 20th Century. This series includes works on Meyerhold
Vsevolod Meyerhold
Vsevolod Emilevich Meyerhold was a great Russian and Soviet theatre director, actor and theatrical producer. His provocative experiments dealing with physical being and symbolism in an unconventional theatre setting made him one of the seminal forces in modern international theatre.-Early...
, Brecht
Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
, Strehler
Giorgio Strehler
Giorgio Strehler was an Italian opera and theatre director.-Biography:Strehler was born in Barcola, Trieste to an Austrian father and a Franco-Slovene mother; he grew up speaking Italian but spoke French well and his German was passable. He became suddenly fatherless at the age of three, his...
, Peter Brook
Peter Brook
Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...
and Robert Wilson
Robert Wilson (director)
Robert Wilson is an American avant-garde stage director and playwright who has been called "[America]'s — or even the world's — foremost vanguard 'theater artist'". Over the course of his wide-ranging career, he has also worked as a choreographer, performer, painter, sculptor, video...
among others.
He brought his company from Tokyo to the remote mountain village of Toga in 1976. Currently, the Toga Art Park comprises five theaters, rehearsal facilities, offices, lodgings and restaurants, and continues to host both a summer and winter season of performances, symposiums, workshops and competitions.
Further reading
- Tadashi Suzuki, The Way of Acting: The Theatre Writings of Tadashi Suzuki, Theatre Communications Group, (1993) ISBN 978-0930452568
- Carruthers, Ian; Takahashi, Yasunari, The Theatre of Tadashi Suzuki, Cambridge University Press, (2004) ISBN 978-0521590242
- Fragments of Glass: A Conversation between Hijikata Tatsumi and Suzuki Tadashi
- Culture is the Body! by Tadashi Suzuki
- Training at the Waseda Little Theatre: The Suzuki Methodby James R. Brandon
- The Return of the Gods: Theatre in Japan Today by David G. Goodman
- Interview: The Word Is an Act of the Body by William O. Beeman, Tadashi Suzuki and Kosho Kadogami
- Rethinking Zeami: Talking to Kanze Tetsunojo by Jadwiga Rodowicz
- Kazuko Yoshiyuki on Acting by Tatsuro Ishii