Dragon King in a contentious sea: Sino–Japanese intercultural theatre in 1989. (January 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Stenberg, Josh; Björk, Tove
• Is Part Of: International journal of Asian studies. Volume 19:Part 1(2022)
• Page Start: 135
• Page End: 151
• Publication Date: 2022-01
• Subjects: jingju -- kabuki -- intercultural theatre -- Sino-Japanese relations; Asia -- Periodicals; Asia -- History -- Periodicals; Asia -- Civilization -- Periodicals; 950.05
• DOI: 10.1017/S147959142100019X
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1479-5914

Abstract

Abstract: Interculturalism in theatre, although much critiqued, is an inevitable category for understanding theatre practices and histories. Critical approaches have highlighted the complicity of "hegemonic" Euro-American-led theatre with imperialist structures. Newer critiques tend to focus on encounters in European languages in multicultural cities, and to posit multilateral non-Western collaborations as liberated from colonial power structures. This paper argues that it is necessary to fundamentally rethink interculturalism in theatre by taking seriously the long-standing major theatrical exchanges which do not reference, and are not principally influenced by, Western theatre's sphere. Considering a major example of Sino–Japanese collaboration from 1989, Ryū-Ō (Dragon King), we place it within the genealogy of the two countries' long-standing theatrical practices of interculturalism. Ryu-O, a kabuki- jingju collaboration, shows that intra-Asian interculturalism has its own genealogy and is neither new nor beholden to Euro-American models, nor necessarily characterized by the idealism easily invested in overtly counter-hegemonic projects. By examining the show's production process, performance and reception, we re-evaluate how interculturalism in theatre is conceived, urging serious engagement with areas of practice historically grounded and fully independent of both "hegemonic" and "new" intercultural theatre tendencies.