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Paper short abstract:

This presentation focuses on the working mechanism of world fairs and colonial exhibitions, shows throught the example of two Japanese truopes that the Western audience and theatrical people how misunderstood these performances and the East.

Paper long abstract:

World fairs and colonial exhibitions were organised of the second half of the 19th century with the same purpose: to showcase foreign traditions and to legitimate the superiority of Western powers. For ordinary people, these open-air exhibitions were the only opportunity to learn and see something about distant and “magical” cultures, such as that of the East. On several occasions, besides the valuable artefacts not only foreign-style buildings but whole villages were exhibited. In these special spaces (heterotopia), where foreign people were also exhibited, the gaze was directed to the body of the Other (Fischer-Lichte 2009). This situation can also be considered as theatrical: while carrying out their daily routines or traditional ceremonies, villagers involuntarily transformed themselves into performers of a theatrical kind in the eyes of those who were watching them. At the same time, world fairs also staged theatrical plays. These were performed by professional actors who made audiences believe that their acting was authentic, while it was not. Several Japanese actors became catalysts of significant European theatrical movements by appearing at the 1900 Paris Exposition and the Marseille Colonial Exhibition in 1906, at a time when European theatre was trying to overcome its crisis of logocentrism. The Kawakami troupe and Hanako showed a new solution with performances that were almost devoid of speech and emphasised the body. Their ways of using the body seemed to be as unique and natural as those of “exhibited” human beings performing ceremonies, amazing the Western audience. In my presentation, I will examine the different ways of “performing” that were considered authentic by the viewers. I will show that the artists (Edward G. Craig, Auguste Rodin) who thought that these troupes justified their belief that Eastern ”naturalness” could provide the solution to their crisis, fell victim to a productive misunderstanding. Thus the “colonisers” were misled, on the one hand, by those who they thought they had ”colonised”, and on the other hand, by their own preconceptions and desires.