3․11 대지진 이후 일본 연극 속의 비일상성 연구 - <물우리>와 <지진 택시>를 중심으로 -

초록

The purpose of this paper is to study the non-daily expressions exhibited in Japanese plays since the 3․11 Great Earthquake. Renowned directors of so-called ‘silent plays’ which has become the mainstream in Japanese little theaters since 1990’s have stressed everydayness by employing hyper-realistic methods such as no changes of scenes on stages or actors acting with their backs to the audience. This trend was also reflective of depressed Japanese societies after the economic collapse in the 80’s. The trend had intensified in 2000’s, and lethargic characters worn out by pathetic routine life were brought up on to the stages. This type of performance was called “Datsuryoku-kei(tension-removing)” as it is known to sap energy out of the audience. In any case, however, the 3․11 Great Earthquake was an important event which triggered a change in the then-prevailing trend of hyper-realismin the world of Japanese theaters. One of the most monumental plays post Great Earthquake era was Cage of water, originally commissioned by Germany’s public theater and produced by Tanino Kuro. In this play, a middle-aged German actor impersonated an old and paranoid Japanese man who suffered from a delusional disorder. This work portrayed Japan in disaster through just one man whose soul is stuffed with the general public’s overwhelming uneasiness and misunderstanding about the earthquake and nuclear plant incident as well as prejudice against Japan and orientalism. The play ended with a scene where the actor shed his makeup and returned to his own body of a middle-aged white man and overturned all of the previous scenes expressed throughout the play. Another piece of work that has come into the spotlight was Earthquake disaster taxi from the Tohoku region where it has been hit the hardest during the earthquake. The play’s plot was about total strangers being crammed into one taxi after all the means of the transportation has been paralyzed due to the earthquake. One interesting point about this play is that its plot mixed a seemingly everyday event where some strangers get to share a taxi with a fantasy where fictional characters from old novels appear in the eyes of the main character of the play. Shreds of small fantasies have been inserted between a realistic everyday object – taxi – and unusual and unrealistic event – Great Earthquake. The fictional characters from the novels appeared on the stage all of a sudden and then just as suddenly turned into unknown pedestrians. This extraordinary plot was implemented as a device to convince the audience of the unusual experience and sensation of the repetitive cycle of daily and non-daily events. The Great Eastern Japan Earthquake on March 11, 2011 was an unprecedented event as the earthquake caused the meltdown of Fukushima nuclear power plants. The Japanese performing arts community, which had been forced to be shut down after the earthquake, had to provide in action an answer to the very important following question, “why must the theaters be open?” Performance shows on tour were then organized, and plays that depicted the uncomfortable truths about the Japanese society, the secrets which only surfaced after the incident, had attracted the audience’s attention. In order to face the reality of disasters and to proceed with recording of the truths, the performing arts community must develop contents with which the audience could also sympathize. And therefore it would be worthwhile to closely monitor a crucial movement that Is being set in motion in the Japanese performing arts community.

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