love Suicides at Sonezaki press Release
My bones may be crushed to powder, my flesh be torn away...
but if I am parted from you, what shall I do?”
Chikamatsu Monzaemon...Osaka, 1703
Chikamatsu has often been referred to as the Shakespeare of Japan yet
he is unfamiliar to most theatre practitioners in the west and is
completely unknown to theatre goers. Interest in Japanese culture and
history is currently higher than it has ever been at any other time in
history making it all the more difficult to believe that such intimate
and fantastical stories have remained hidden. In the early eighteenth
century Chikamatsu was writing deeply touching domestic tragedies
about peasants and commoners while the rest of the world continued to
focus on the wealthy and the aristocracy. At the same time however he
was writing epic dramas about mythical princes, imaginary monsters and
demons and the ruling classes in Japanese society. What is so
interesting about Chikamatsu is that his domestic tragedies, Love
Suicides at Sonezaki included, are inspired by actual events that
occurred shortly before the writing of the plays and within the
community where Chikamatsu lived. These would have been incredibly
poignant productions for the people who would have been familiar with
the story and possibly may have known the individuals involved.
This production of Love Suicides at Sonezaki is inspired by
contemporary Japanese and Western animation as well as Japanese manga.
Manga and anime are enjoyed by all ages in Japan and are read by an
increasing number of people in the west. Japanese animation is
watched by millions across the globe on a daily basis. The popularity
of these forms aside the visual aesthetic of manga and anime lends
itself perfectly to Love Suicides at Sonezaki and has already been
turned into a very loosely adapted manga under the title Sonezaki
Shinjuu. This version does not use any of Chikamatsu’s language but
makes an interesting interpretive comment to the original story. The
popularity of anime and mange also serves as a bridge to communicating
the story to a modern audience.
The play was originally written for the Bunraku theatre at a time when
only one puppeteer was used per puppet. This practice changed after
the death of Chikamatsu in 1725 with the introduction of an additional
two puppeteers making each puppet require three people to control
them. This number has remained the same for nearly three centuries in
the contemporary Bunraku theatre. Since this is not a bunraku
production of Love Suicides at Sonezaki and in recognition of the way
puppets where manipulated during Chikamatsu’s time they will be
controlled by one puppeteer for the most part