Overview and Impressions of Akihiko Ogita's "The Gekkai of Yukio Ninagawa" - The essence of Ninagawa's direction as seen by a critic who has followed the stage for many years.
This time we will introduce "The Gekisekai of Yukio Ninagawa" by Akihiko Ogita, published by Asahi Shimbun Publications in 2010. Let's take a look at this book right away.
Yukio Ninagawa is one of Japan's leading directors and the Ninagawa of the world. The leading critic of contemporary theater has been closely observing the qualities and appeal of Ninagawa's productions for 40 years, and Ninagawa's own words can be found at ....... This compilation of Ninagawa's criticism of some 60 plays, from the 1971 Tokaido Yotsuya Ghost Story at the Gendaijin Gekijo to the 2009 Sanada Fuunroku, brings the essence and times of these productions vividly into focus. The essence of Ninagawa's work and the times come vividly to life in this collection of Ninagawa's critiques. Also includes a conversation with Ninagawa, "The Role of the Director," and a detailed chronology.
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This work was previously featured on our blog.Contemporary Theatre in Japan., ,The Stage Will Tell."A collection of reviews of Yukio Ninagawa's productions by the author of
I picked up this book by Yasushi Inoue, which I have previously introduced in this blog.Romance."was the catalyst.
Akihiko Ogita, the author of this work, was in charge of the commentary at the end of this book. Hisashi Inoue's commentary is a masterful one that makes it easy to understand what kind of person he was and the characteristics and appeal of his works. I want to be able to write such a wonderful commentary! I wish I could write such a wonderful commentary!
I was very grateful to learn of Mr. Ogita's review of Yukio Ninagawa in this work.
In the afterword at the end of the book, the author describes the book as follows
I first saw a performance directed by Yukio Ninagawa in September 1969, when the Gendaijin Gekidan presented Kunio Shimizu's "Shinjo suru karusisa" at the Art Theater Shinjuku Bunka. Ninagawa had already directed rehearsal performances for the Seika Theater Company, but this was his full-fledged debut as a director.
When I saw the play, I was surprised. Kunio Shimizu's play was excellent, but I was also impressed by the direction, which brought out vivid, earnest, and realistic performances from the young actors, and by the stage design, which was visually appealing and visually formative, moving the more than 50 characters dynamically and elaborating on every detail. It was a bold and inventive production that one would not expect from a new director.
I was so fascinated by this play and so convinced of the talent of Yukio Ninagawa's direction that I began to see almost every performance of his later productions without fail. At the time, I was a reporter covering theater for the Asahi Shimbun's arts and sciences department (now the Culture Group), so I had many opportunities to interview Ninagawa. Ninagawa's stories were always frank, stimulating, and interesting, and I came to like his unpretentious personality. Ninagawa is five years older than I am, but I feel strongly that we are contemporaries who lived in the same era then and now.
This book is a compilation of various manuscripts I wrote about the stage of director Yukio Ninagawa for newspapers and magazines over a period of nearly 40 years from 1971 to 2009. The contents of the book cover a wide range of topics, including critiques, character studies, essays, and play reviews. At the beginning of the book is an essay I wrote especially for this volume, "Kunio Shimizu as 'Origin': A Theory of Yukio Ninagawa from the Perspective of a Director's List. In other words, this book is a compilation of my own Ninagawa theories. It is second only to Karajuro's Gekkai (The Gekkai of Karajuro) (Right Document Institute, 2007) as a book of my writings on a specific theatrical figure.
When the project for this book was first conceived, I began collecting old Ninagawa-related manuscripts, and I was surprised at the unexpectedly large number of them. This is partly because Ninagawa has been active as a director for a long time and has directed an extremely large number of productions, but it is also because I have consistently taken a strong interest in the talent and work of this director and have written about him with considerable enthusiasm. In no other case have I written so many articles on a single director.
Asahi Shimbun Publications, Akihiko Ogita, The Dramatic World of Yukio Ninagawa, p. 359-360.
The author, Akihiko Ogita, has been watching Yukio Ninagawa's plays since his directorial debut.
I have written about this director with considerable enthusiasm, and with a consistently strong interest in his talent and work. In no other instance have I written so many manuscripts on a single director."As Ninagawa states, "I can feel his deep understanding and love for the stage.
And I was reading the afterword, and there was one part that I thought, "Whoa. Here it is.
Among these reviews is one for the Imperial Theatre's production of Hamlet (1978), which drew Ninagawa's ire. There was some turbulence in the interaction with this director over the years.
Asahi Shimbun Publications, Akihiko Ogita, The Dramatic World of Yukio Ninagawa, p. 361.
The above was connected in my mind with the fact that Akihiko Ogita was a reporter in charge of theater at the Asahi Shimbun's arts and sciences department (now the cultural group).
This is because there was an incident in which Ninagawa was so outraged by the Asahi Shimbun's review of a play that he created a wall newspaper called "Ninagawa Shinbun" and criticized it back.
We previously discussed this case.Yukio Ninagawa, "A Thousand Knives, a Thousand Eyes" - Thinking about what criticism is and the weight of it. A masterful book, full of sharp words!"I hope you will refer to that, as I quoted it in detail in
The article by a reporter senior to Mr. Nitta is said to have led to Ninagawa's outrage, but the text says that Mr. Nitta himself was strongly angered by Mr. Ninagawa's criticism when he wrote an article about him. In a sense, one of the highlights of this book was to see Mr. Ogita's review of the play that provoked Ninagawa's anger. Of course, after the review, the two men reconciled, albeit some time later.
Now, in this book, you can get to know Ninagawa as seen only through Mr. Ogita, who has been following him for a long time. How did his direction change as he matured from his debut as a director? We will also delve deeply into the essence of his theater.
However, this book is a bit difficult to read as an introduction to Ninagawa. It is recommended to read this book after seeing several of Ninagawa's stage productions or reading other books to get a feel for his personality and production process. I have recently been watching DVDs of Ninagawa's stage productions, and if you read this book after watching a performance, you will be able to enjoy it much more. I have recently watched a DVD of a play directed by Ninagawa, and if you read this book after seeing the play, you will enjoy it even more.
I highly recommend this work to anyone who wants to learn more about Yukio Ninagawa's direction and his personality. It was an extremely stimulating read.
The above is "Akihiko Ogita's Theatrical World of Yukio Ninagawa: The Essence of Ninagawa's Direction as Seen from the Perspective of a Critic Who Has Followed the Stage for Many Years.
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