Waseda collaboration
The University of Birmingham signed a collaboration agreement with Waseda University in Tokyo, one of Japan’s leading research universities. This facilitates shared projects across a range of disciplines in both the sciences and the humanities.
In the arts, the collaboration focuses on Shakespeare. Waseda was the home of the first major translator of Shakespeare into Japanese, Professor Shoyo (Frank) Tsubouchi (1859-1935). It also houses the extraordinary Tsubouchi Theatre Museum. Designed to resemble a Jacobean playhouse, this building houses Tsubouchi’s immense personal archive. Waseda has maintained strong interests in Shakespeare and performance since Tsubouchi’s death. It has sent a number of MA and PhD students over the years to study at the Shakespeare Institute.
Collaboration activities
Collaboration activities
Professor Dobson formally inaugurated the collaboration in 2016 with a public lecture at Waseda titled ‘Shakespeare, Rome, and temporality, from Burbage to Ninagawa.’
Activities within the collaboration have included an exhibition at the Tsubouchi Museum. ‘Shakespeare Renaissance – from Shoyo to Ninagawa’ charted the assimilation and adaptation of Shakespeare in Japan from the nineteenth century to the twenty-first. The collaboration has greatly enriched the Institute’s MA portfolio, informing both the ‘Shakespearean Performance in Asia’ module and ‘Shakespeare’s World / The World’s Shakespeares.’ It has also produced significant publications, including Re-imagining Shakespeare in Contemporary Japan. A Selection of Japanese Theatrical Adaptations of Shakespeare, described below.
2022
At Waseda, the collaboration organized a major international conference, ‘Found in Translation: Understanding Shakespeare through Intercultural Dialogue.’ Plenary speakers included the Institute’s Dr Jessica Chiba, alongside major figures such as Matsuoka Kazuko (Ninagawa’s favourite translator), Institute alumnus and Utrecht emeritus Ton Hoenselaars, and Li Lan Yong of the National University of Singapore.
2020
In March 2020 it was Stratford’s turn to host once more. Professors Nori Morita, Tetsu Motoyama and Rieko Suzuki came to the Shakespeare Institute for a symposium on novelizations of Shakespeare in the Anglophone world and in Japan. It featured contributions from the Institute’s Abigail Rokison-Woodall and Michael Dobson.
The event highlighted the deep engagement with Hamlet visible in post-war Japanese culture, with fascinating discussions of prose adaptations designed for teenagers. The Waseda delegation and their hosts spent the evening at the Swan Theatre, watching the Royal Shakespeare Company performing King John.
2018
In November 2018, it was Waseda’s turn to host a major symposium, this time with the support of the Sasakawa Foundation - ‘Adapting Shakespeare for the Stage Today’. Attendees included:
- Waseda faculty
- Nomura Mansai
- RSC associate director Angus Jackson
- Actress and artistic director of Flute Theatre, Kelly Hunter
- Professors Tiffany Stern and Michael Dobson, Shakespeare Institute
A bilingual highlight of the event was a performance of the dialogue between the Macbeths just after the murder of Duncan. Nomura Mansai played Macbeth in Japanese and Kelly Hunter took the role of Lady Macbeth in English.
The event also featured the Shakespeare Institute PhD student Richard Keith and recent Shakespeare Institute PhD graduate Dr Rosie Fielding. Rosie wrote much of her doctoral thesis on modern Japanese performances of Shakespeare as a guest research associate at Waseda, and she has worked as a translator for Ninagawa’s company Saitama Arts. Together with Fumiaki Konno, and Waseda colleague Professor Tetsu Motoyama, Rosie has published a bilingual English and Japanese edition of recent Japanese stage adaptations of Shakespeare:
A bilingual highlight of the event was a performance of the dialogue between the Macbeths just after the murder of Duncan. Nomura Mansai played Macbeth in Japanese and Kelly Hunter took the role of Lady Macbeth in English.
2017
In January 2017, the Institute and Waseda co-organised a conference on Shakespeare, Asia and the screen. ‘Shakespeare. Film. East. West,’ featured keynote lectures by Mitsuhiro Yoshimoto (on Kurosawa) and Russell Jackson (on post-war screen Hamlets).
It was Stratford and London's turn next. In October 2017, the Shakespeare Institute hosted a visit from Waseda faculty, and a lecture by Professor Kodama. A major co-organised public event took place at the Japanese embassy in London. 'Yukio Ninagawa, Shakespearean director (1935-2016): a memorial symposium' featured contributions by:
- Waseda and Shakespeare Institute faculty and research students
- veteran Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington
- theatre director Phillip Breen
- members of the late Ninagawa’s theatre company, who performed their Macbeth that evening at the Barbican Theatre.