One Woman Dramaturgy: T. Sato @ Edfringe 2016

PLAYERS TOKYO present

ONE WOMAN ‘MACBETH’ 

adapted, directed & performed by T. Sato.

A unique yet classical version of Macbeth, performed by a single player as a full-production. Even in a normal full-cast production, the audience tend to only look at the actor who is speaking. This production uses that habit of the audience to do the trick. 

A single player keeps acting against an illusion of the opposite character which has been created in audience’s eyes/minds beforehand. The change of the character is simply suggested by a subtle turning of the head.

Why does a Japanese actress embark on a solo show of Shakespeare in English? --because she foolishly decided to train in English Theatre and Shakespeare in the UK, without any previous acting experience in her own language. 

After training, Sato went back to Japan only to find out that she had become an alien in her native acting world, and ended up with starting small storytelling shows in English by herself.

Feeling alone and isolated, Sato was inspired by the words of the late actress Dilys Hamlett, who encouraged her to pursue the acting career rather than her initial interest of directing: she “has a rare quality and should go for as an actress—I hope she will”.  

Sato thought that, even on her own, if she would rehearse each part one by one as if she was given that part in a normal production and eventually put them together, it might make a full production of Shakespeare. 

Sato's adaptation of Macbeth is the result, following the classic story as told by Hecate, the goddess of Crossroads, from her point of view. It is straightforward in style, preserving much of the original folio text.   

Solo Shakespeare, Macbeth: Hecate’s Poison 

Venue 40 (Quaker Meeting House) 16-20Aug at 20:30 (1hour)

What was the inspiration for this performance?
To imagine Shakespeare’s motivation to write this particular play, especially the intention behind the witches’ chants. I looked into various historical backgrounds to figure out these things.

Is theatre still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?
Yes, although perhaps it depends on the culture/country the performance takes place. 

For instance in Japan, people simply shy away from 'the public discussion of ideas' as such—so for them(us) theatre in the first place does not serve as such a space. Theatre experience to Japanese audience is closer to watching films. Usually there is very little exchange of ideas between the performer and the audience. 

Audience is actively ‘perceive’, politely waiting to be only given.  

In general, audience come to theatre to see their favorite actors rather than a play itself, or to watch a fantasy world on stage, away from their daily life reality. I believe theatre is mainly expected to be a space to provide pure entertainment or dream world (=less reality is preferred), and the performers' work is to fulfill this needs of audience. I suppose it is quite different from the UK theatre.

In the UK, I personally feel it is still the space where people consolidate their ideas and also identity. People seem to learn a lot by observing the pseudo-reality on stage: theatre experience in the UK can be the nearest to your own experience of life situation. 

How did you become interested in making performance?
By accidentally watching Peter Brook’s The Tempest in Ginza Tokyo about 25 years ago. To encounter the western theatre for the first time (reality on stage and thoughts/philosophy behind the performance) was memorable experience, and it must have led me to start my theatre training in the UK 4~5 years later.  

Was your process typical of the way that you make a performance?
I believe it was. I always go for the background and history as well as the text to interpret Shakespearean plays. Then once my ideas become solid, start to build the best way to present my interpretation of the play. 

What do you hope that the audience will experience?
Whatever they get from my interpretation of the play. Some, perhaps, might get a hidden satire to the present time, which I try to make not obvious—it would be great.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?
Making the performance very simple and clear, and executing it as precisely and accurately as possible on stage. If I do not act well, audience would not get what I try to present. After all, it is a one woman production.

Do you see your work within any particular tradition?
It seems that my work is a mixed-result of my classical English theatre training(only theatre training I got) and Japanese traditional story telling which I was familiar with as audience since my childhood, though I was not particularly aware of it when making the production. 

About the Company:
Players TOKYO is now T. Sato’s single unit for presenting her works abroad.
Solo Shakespeare productions serve as her showcase pieces.

Tatter de Dramaturgy– Henry Maynard @ Edfringe 2015

Flabbergast Theatre:
Tatterdemalion
Assembly Roxy
17:45 (18:45)
5-31 Aug


From the creators of Boris and Sergey, Tatterdemalion scooped the Judges Award at the Mimetic Festival while still a work in progress. With clowning at the heart of this comedic piece of theatre, Henry Maynard (artistic director of Flabbergast Theatre) has developed a touching, absurd and often magical show, which explores the themes of loneliness and belonging side by side with joy and exhilaration.

Audiences are invited to join our hero for a silent expedition as they witness one man's quest for a friend. Pathos, dark humour and Victorian aesthetics combine to create a wonderful and mysterious backdrop to a surreal and poetic journey.

Every now and again you come across a show

that feels like a hug, and Flabbergast Theatre’s Tatterdemalion is precisely the antidote to having to leave the house on a cold January Sunday evening.  ★★★★  Exeunt 
This vaudevillian mime was wonderful to watch, fizzing and brimming with ideas ★★★★  London Theatre
"Joyful, intelligent and downright funny... Has the potential to storm next year's Edinburgh Fringe" Views from the Gods ★★★★

The Fringe


What inspired this production: did you begin with an idea or a script or an object?
Henry Maynard: I have always been fascinated by physical comedy and clown and wanted to challenge myself with a solo show. This production was inspired by the image of a steamer trunk alone on stage. The piece then unfolds as our protagonist discovers it for the first time and sets about exploring the contents; I wanted to play with themes of travel, loneliness and belonging.

Why bring your work to Edinburgh?
This will be my fourth year of producing work in Edinburgh, having done Boris & Sergey the preceding three. Whilst Edinburgh can be horrendously expensive, even for ‘successful’ shows, it is also the most amazing platform for your work. 

It can be difficult to get producers and press, even those based there, to see your work when presenting in London, whereas they are all in Edinburgh solely to see shows. It raises your profile with audiences from all over the world. In addition, there is the opportunity to be inspired by the huge range of other artists and productions.

What can the audience expect to see and feel - or even think - of your production?
They can expect to be confused, delighted, threatened and made to laugh till their belly hurts. We will go on a journey together whilst we create the show. This show is very dependent on the audience so don’t expect a fourth wall.

The Dramaturgy Questions

How would you explain the relevance - or otherwise - of dramaturgy within your work?
I have never been a proponent of forcing too much meaning into my work; I don’t believe in being didactic or that all theatre must have some kind of message. I feel that meaning is conveyed through the simplest means and what can seem meaningless for one audience member can touch another deeply. 

Art exists for Art’s sake. We don’t look at sculptures or even dance and feel they HAVE to have meaning (although many do.) That said, we do strive for an arc to our productions or at least a theme as an inspiration point. 

I enjoy the random and the absurd immensely, I enjoy less control and more spontaneity but I understand that can be threatening to some.  I like people to have human reactions to our work rather than intellectual ones, Tatterdemalion specifically is about connecting with the audience and creating something absurd and beautiful together.

What particular traditions and influences would you acknowledge on your work - have any particular artists, or genres inspired you and do you see yourself within their tradition?
I trained in classical theatre for three years but since finishing have found myself leaning towards more ‘avant garde’ theatre forms such as Commedia Dell’arte, clown, puppetry, and physical theatre. Cabaret and circus also fascinate me and I have been working in London on the cabaret scene for the last six years, Boris & Sergey are clearly cabaret or ‘Vaudevillian’ characters and it could be argued that Tatterdemalion is too. 

I enjoy the immediacy of the contact with the audience - the fourth wall is really a recent development in theatre; historically speaking direct address has been a feature for far longer.

I worked with Blind Summit for several years and you can obviously see their influence on our puppetry work, in addition to work with Mervyn Millar and Handspring puppetry company.

In Edinburgh 2005, I saw a Production called All Wear Bowlers by Pig Iron which greatly affected me (it is still to this date my favorite piece of theatre!).  It was a duo clown piece with moments of magic and you can clearly see that it inspired my work on ‘Tatterdemalion’. 

It also, in a roundabout way, inspired Boris & Sergey whom I consider to be a clown duo act in the ilk of Laurel & Hardy.

I had started to work on a duo act with a fellow clown when I broke my leg and that is when I started to make puppets. It is amazing how ideas and passions will divert themselves like a river when the first route becomes blocked. Looking back I can clearly see how Boris & Sergey came from my frustration at not being able to do that duo piece that so interested me.


Do you have a particular process of making that you could describe - where it begins, how you develop it, and whether there is any collaboration in the process?
In Flabbergast, we take a very collaborative approach to our work. Coming from a performance background I feel that our performers are the biggest resource and I hope to empower them to be critical and creative. 

When working on Boris & Sergey, I try to guide without being too intrusive and we use a great deal of improvisation. In that way the shows grow organically rather than being written as such; if a particular phrasing gets a response from the audience, it stays in and if not, we search for a better line/piece of action. We don’t really use scripts but rather give our performers a framework to perform around; this is something that I took from the way Commedia is created.

Vaudevillian Adventure, our first show, took two years to really mature. It started as a twenty minute piece called poker pit which forms the core and was added to with the most successful acts picked from various cabarets.

Tatterdemalion was also created using a great deal of improvisation and is still growing as it is played in front of audiences. I used my company as my audience in developing the piece, it so it definitely has our sense of humor. I am influenced by music a lot, so we often take that as a starting point.


What do you feel the role of the audience is, in terms of making the meaning of your work? 
The audience is everything to us - our shows are about interaction and connection with them. We aim to make the audience feel that they are part of the shows and indeed influence it; we are often praised for the improvisation elements of our shows which has lead to the development of our most recent show Preposterous Improvisation Experiment in which Boris & Sergey’ riff for one hour. Often, improvisation shows are quite formulaic and rely on tricks and rehearsal to please the audience. However, with PIE we literally have no idea what is to happen before we step on stage and every show is completely different. We hope to bring it to Edinburgh in 2016.