Paper short abstract:

My paper investigates the work of Sugawara Naoki, founder of the theatre group OiBokkeShi and a trained caregiver, who is based in Okayama prefecture to scrutinize how age-related issues are addressed in selected productions.

Paper long abstract:

In a super-ageing society such as Japan, issues of care-giving and improving the wellbeing of elderly people are becoming increasingly important. In recent years, art works that actively include the elderly or address problems of high age have gained attention. My paper investigates the work of Sugawara Naoki, founder of the theatre group OiBokkeShi and a trained caregiver, who is based in Okayama prefecture in central Japan but has become known to a growing audience around the country. The name (AgeSenilityDeath) points to the key issues of his performances and workshops. Sugawara's plays, which feature the 91-year-old Okada Tadao in the lead role, attract a great variety of audiences, among them local citizens and medical staff. Besides writing and staging plays, Sugawara holds workshops on aging and theatre that aim at both improving the wellbeing of people suffering from dementia and making participants conscious of how they interact with the elderly in need of care. In so doing, he is among the first theatre people in Japan to address age-related topics and to respond to the challenges of an ageing population. My paper will investigate Sugawara's approach to theatre. I will scrutinize how age-related issues are addressed in selected productions and place them in the context of international applied theatre practice. My paper will show how Sugawara's theatre activities contribute to creating age-friendly localities.

Paper short abstract:

Recent works by Okada Toshiki, Koizumi Meiro, and Takayama Akira apply technological devices and use few/no real live performers. Their so-called "non-human theater" seem to be suitable for depicting physically or socially dead/dying peoples in Japan today.

Paper long abstract:

Some Japanese artists present recently their works which can be categorized to both theater and visual art, and it is remarkable that they apply technological devices and use no real live performers. This paper analyzes such "non-human theater" created by Okada Toshiki, Koizumi Meiro, and Takayama Akira and the meaning of the absence of real live performers.

Playwright and director Okada collaborates with visual artists in his "projection theater (eizo-engeki)" which shows performers on screens in front of moving spectators. He developed the concept in his latest work "Eraser Forest (Keshigomu-Mori)" (2020) which makes the Great East Japan Earthquake its theme: The spectators are required to move while watching both real live performers and performers on screen.

Screens and projectors are in case of the visual artist Koizumi also often in usage. His installation "We Mourn the Dead of the Future" (2019) was held in a room with some projectors and a wide screen, and a movie running in a loop showed young amateur performers playing figures in two groups in a ritual. By rewinding in the middle, the movie gave the image that the one group was both killed and reborn. The spectators could stay in the room as long as they wanted.

Director Takayama uses often MP3 player as technological devise. In his installation "McDonald's Radio University" (2017 in Germany, 2018 in Japan), spectator visits a shop of McDonald's or a room in a museum and orders lecture(s) to be listened through MP3 players. The visitors listen the lectures of minorities of the city/country picked up by Takayama as the voices of the "invisible", unknown or ignored people.

All these three artists use few/no real live performers, while spectators move to experience the works. The spectators are required to behave actively and become themselves rather the real performers as "emancipated spectators" (Rancière). In this way, the contrast to the past/forgotten/unknown/ignored figures is highlighted. The absence of real live, flesh-and-blood performers can be suitable for depicting people in Japan today who are physically or socially dead/dying.