“Epitaph for the Whales”
Epitaph for the Whales, which deals with the lives of seven whale-hunting brothers, was written and staged at the Suzunari Theatre in 1993, Tokyo, initiating SAKATE’s series of Contemporary No Plays. He incorporated the conventions of no (Japan’s classical theatre), and blended aspects of fantasy and traditional culture in his own theatre. This new theatrical tool helped to enrich the art of SAKATE’s theatre and to add to the plays maturity and subtlety. Before Epitaph, his plays tended to include too many topics in each play which were not directly relevant to the subject matter, giving the impression of a fragmented and unrefined play although not without merit. And the tangled dialogue and subplots in his earlier plays energized the drama, rhythms and humor. However, in Epitaph he focused his discussion on whaling, its community and family relationship. The play tells the story of this delicate issue from the traditional viewpoint of Japanese whalers, and the no conventions enforce this sense of tradition with its power of fantasy and romanticism.
The play was staged in an English translation at the Gate Theatre in London in 1998. The production was directed by a Japanese director, KUSHIDA Kazuyoshi, who was born in 1942. KUSHIDA had held workshops and choreographed the whaling brothers’ movements with his actors before the start of rehearsals. Thus his direction was focused on the whale brothers and their actions. The performance successfully integrated the elements of fantasy and pleased the London audience.
SAKATE Yoji’s Profile
SAKATE Yoji was born in 1962, in Okayama. He grew up in the region before went to Tokyo to study Japanese literature at Keio University. In 1981, he became a member of Transposition 21 Theatre Company while he was still a university student.
Transposition 21 was led by YAMAZAKI Tetsu, who was born in 1947, a playwright and director. YAMAZAKI is one of the leading figures of the second generation of the little theatre movement (shogekijo undo) or post-shingeki movement which began in 1960s. This is the theatre which SAKATE first came across and which influenced him.
In 1983, SAKATE formed a new theatre group, the Theatre Company RINKOGUN with himself as leader, playwright and director. He is politically active and his plays, like YAMAZAKI’s, have strong views on contemporary political and social issue in Japan. RINKOGUN’s productions are the result of an innovative collaboration among its residential artists including the stage and lighting designers.
SAKATE has achieved his first major breakthrough with two plays, The Tokyo Trial and A Dangerous Story, which he wrote in 1988. Both plays are about the injustices of the legal system. He wrote a play about lesbians, Come Out in 1989, and Breathless in 1991. Breathless, which discusses the problem of the garbage in Tokyo and the religious cult, Aum Shinrikyo (threatened the Japanese nation with their poison gas murder of Tokyo subway commuters in 1995), had received the Thirty-fifth Kishida Drama Award.
SAKATE wrote Epitaph of the Whales and The Capital of the Kingdom of the Gods in 1993. He continues his experiments in the use of no in Capital of the Kingdom of the Gods. The play is about Lafcadio Hearn, a writer who came to Japan at the end of 19th century. The production toured in Europe and U.S.A in 1994, 1995 and 1998 to great acclaim. The Boiling Point of the Sea (Umi no futten) in 1997 discusses the situation of the land and the people of Okinawa, Japan’s most southern and newest prefecture.
In 2001, the group traveled to Berlin, Leipzig, Krakow, and Warsaw with their production of Breathless. The company has also created work in collaboration with theatre artists from abroad. Whalers in the South Seas, a work produced in 2000 is created with actors from Indonesia, Philippines and U.S.A.. The company’s acclaimed production of The Attic was appeared in Pittsburgh, Miami, Los Angeles and New York in February 2005.
AWARDS
2000:
- Winner, 7th Yomiuri Theater Award for Best Direction ? The Emperor and The Kiss (Tenno to Seppun)
- Nominee, 7th Yomiuri Theater Award for Best Production, RINKOGUN ? The Emperor and The Kiss
2003:
- Winner, 10th Yomiuri Theater Award for Best Direction, Yoji Sakate ? The Attic (Yaneura), Until the Last Person Standing (Saigo no Hitori Made ga Zentai de Aru), Charlie Victor Romeo, Abe Sada and Mutsuo (Abe Sada to Mutsuo)
- Winner, 54th Yomiuri Literature Prize (Drama), Yoji Sakate ? The Attic (Yaneura)
- Winner, 37th Kinokuniya Theater Award for Individual Achievement, Yoji Sakate ? The Attic (Yaneura), Until the Last Person Standing and Blind Touch (produced by Theatre group EN)
- Nominee, 10th Yomiuri Theater Award for Best Production, RINKOGUN ? Until the
