Can Playback Theatre be Today s Storytelling?

Transcription

1 Can Playback Theatre be Today s Storytelling? By Kyoko Tanaka This material is made publicly available by the Centre for Playback Theatre and remains the intellectual property of its author.

2 CAN PLAYBACK THEATER BE TODAY'S STORYTELLING? By: Kyoko Tanaka CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER-1. Storytelling in Japan How Japanese storytelling started 2. The world described in old stories 3. Environment of oral tradition CHAPTER-2. The decline of Japanese storytelling The collapse of the traditional family system 2. Urbanization CHAPTER-3. Today's storytelling -in what form can it exist in this society? As entertainment (performing arts) 2. As rituals and ceremonies 3. As a record of the history - The Great Hanshin Earthquake CHAPTER-4. Playback Theater and Storytelling In a community 2. "To perform" and artistic aspects 3. Specification and Identification CONCLUSION 15

3 INTRODUCTION There exist many folk tales in each region in Japan, the north-south chain of islands. Those some hundreds-year-old tales are still regarded as a precious oral tradition today. And now, I am talking about "storytelling". It was only two or three generations ago in Japan that children and old people gathered around 'Kotatsu' or 'Irori'(heater or fireplace) and enjoyed "storytelling"., I remember, when I was a child, I used to listen to my grandmother's story starting "Once upon a time..." with my brother, cousin and friends on a 'Engawa' (veranda) in the bright sunshine. This memory always reminds me of the smell of crisp sunshine, a fulfilled feeling, a sense of security and enjoyment. I don't think this is a special experience. People of my age must have heard same kind of stories in their childhood from their grandmother or grandfather. And it is quite natural behavior of a human to tell a little story to others. We, humans, have had a urge to tell a story to others since the dawn of the human history. The story can be any sort: a simple anecdote, a story inspired by the wisdom of one's life, or a fantasy. Whatever the story is, we have conveyed our experiences and what we've learned from our history through telling stories. Basically speaking, the reason to tell a story is to reproduce a person's life whatever its purpose might be (e.g. for education or for entertainment). Storytelling produces a person-to-person communication among people listening to the story. Therefore, storytelling should have acquired a immovable status in our daily life. 1 But now, the number of nuclear families has increased rapidly in Japan. Many families living in a small apartment with only two or three rooms are having a rushed life. Therefore, there is no space to bring in a fascinating world of storytelling, for it is impossible to furnish a sun-lit veranda or a fireplace any more. Instead, all sorts of media-related products, such as printed matter, films, VCR and PC have rushed in to fill the space. Playback Theater produces the very same person-to-person communication that is difficult to be found in Japan now. We can re-produce the actual feelings and senses in PT, which is impossible to be expressed through the mass media. 2

4 So, I believe PT offers an opportunity to enjoy the world of "storytelling", though its environment is a little different from the old one: all of the listeners (audience in PT) can be actors and will improvise on stage with background music. It can be said that some artistic touch is added. PT in Japan has just begun to bloom, though whose flowers are very small with various limitations surrounding them. I'd like to search for a possibility in Japanese PT by comparing Japanese storytelling and Playback Theater. 2 3

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6 CHAPTER 1. Storytelling in Japan 1. How Japanese storytelling started: 5

7 Looking at the history of folktales, the origin of storytelling, you would go back to some 5,500 years ago, the ancient times of Japan. Among many folktales, there're legends of giants related with ruins of Jomon Era and myths of gods related with the origin of farm products. Clay images and drawings on earthenware indicate that the ancient people had already enjoyed storytelling. This story-motif, the essential element of folktales, had been brought down to the modern period. A good example is found in Konjahu Stories written in Muromachi Era, during the medival period. It goes like this: Many young men gathered and had a big party eating and drinking a lot and had a great time playing cards and games, and telling many folktales. And also, some stories of the devil are written there. Undoubtedly it was the good opportunity for young men to exchange stories. In the modern period, storytelling began to prevail among village folks as an opportunity for communication. Many stories were told in the community where tellers and listeners tried to keep a close relationship and develop it. Through storytelling, people managed to find keys to solve many serious-social problems surrounding them, such as famines, starvation and poverty. Also, people keenly hoped that their children and grandchildren would cope with or overcome the social contradictions. They encouraged their children through storytelling. In order to obtain the best result, they tried to find the effective way of telling stories at the right time and in the right place. This is how the method of storytelling was developed. Generally speaking, in the modern period in Japan, a typical listener of storytelling must have listened to a complete series of stories by the time they became a member of the community. They would have had stories of animals, by the time they became 4-5 years old, old stories by 6-7, funny stories by and folk stories and other general stories about the community by the time they became adults. This process was a sort of ritual for them those days. Speaking of the change of the feature of storytelling in the modern period, more literary and fictional touch was added. Fiction writers began to create stories for plays to entertain people, which was the origin of Kabuki. Those plays were acted by actors and became more professional and artistic with background music. That is the brief history of storytelling from its origin in the ancient times to its golden days in the modern times.. Factors to establish Playback Theater 6

8 It is the well known fact among those who love PT that Mr. Jonathan Fox, the founder of PT was inspired by primitive oral legends and ancient poets and also was greatly influenced by unexpected experience of storytelling in a pre-industrial village in Nepal when he stayed as a Peace Corps volunteer. People in Nepal had a lot of life-oriented talks and various rituals in their daily lives, which comforted their mind. You can see the origin of storytelling in here. All the primitive communities must have had storytelling in all sorts of ways regardless of their geographical differences. Therefore, the very same origin of Playback Theater can be found in Japanese preindustrial communities The world described in old stories The characters in old stories are usually not identified but are introduced as just 'an old man', 'an old woman', 'a man' or 'a woman.' The place where an incident occurred is not specified either. A teller sometimes uses an expression like "...in such a place." Here, the teller doesn't mean to fix a certain place but just wants listeners to get involved in his story. This rule can be also applied to 'time.' Let me introduce an example: an old story "Urashima Taro". In this story, Taro, the main character, spent only 3 days in Dragon Castle under the sea but he actually spent 300 years there. When he came back to land, naturally there were nobody who knew him. Grieving over the reality, he opened a fortune box which was given by a princess of the castle. All at once, he became a 300-year-old man! After listening to this story, no one would be bothered by the chaos of time. In short, such a vague expression as "Not in the days of my father of grandfather, but not so long ago, there lived an old man or woman who was just like one of your neighbors" would be enough. It sounds strange but the vague expression like this is one of the essential elements of old stories for all the listeners will share the story. The story can be recognized as yours and mine because the story belongs to no where or no one. As the story has a great influence over them, the story sometimes becomes so realistic to them. At the same time, a story is transformed into many different stories by different people, 7

9 in different places and under different religions throughout Japan. And each story is told from one generation to next. That is the summary of the feature of Japanese old stories, the main material of storytelling Environment of oral tradition In Japan, stories are told: a. in a family (at home), b. among villagers, c. and among villagers and visitors. Stories can be sorted out into one of the above terms according to their content: 1. who will be the teller or listener, 2. what will be told and 3. when, where and how the story will be told. ["Irori", the Japanese fireplace, where people gathered around to enjoy storytelling] Most of the stories were told at home and Irori was the main place for storytelling. Irori was made for the important purposes such as cooking, warming and lightning the room. To keep fire all the time at home meant to maintain the home itself. The word "fire" basically means 'the life source' or 'the sun.' Therefore, Irori where the fire is kept is undoubtedly the center of the home and is related with its existence. It is widely believed in Japan that the spirit of an ancestor protects the family. And it is also believed nationwide that the ancestor would come into the house through the chimney above Irori. Irori is the sacred place where the spirit of the ancestor would stay. We could find various types of storytelling around Irori especially from Meiji Era through Taisho Era. In a village, for example, neighbors who had to work through the night gathered in a house and exchanged stories. A few children would listen to their grandmother sitting around Irori while their parents working in the mountain. In northern part of Japan where people were confined in much snow for several months, Irori played a very important role in their life. They made sandals and ropes, 8

10 did some needle works, and fixed tools around Irori. They encouraged and relieved each other and tried to banish sleep by telling stories. -6- As I mentioned so far, storytelling around Irori is indispensable to the family. The stories contain conventional old stories, funny stories, general stories and real stories. Children who experienced storytelling at their old Irori would fly to the outer world searching for other different storytelling. Oral tradition among villagers Outside homes, villagers also had storytelling in the bigger group. Then, the conditions of storytelling became diversified in place and time while the situation was rather fixed at home. They gathered to enjoy storytelling especially on a special day like New Year's Day, or village festivals. The purpose of this kind of storytelling was very clear: to maintain the community, to entertain themselves and to educate the young men through storytelling. The typical place was "Wakashu-goya", a cottage for youths, which was supposedly built as an official facility to educate young people. Privately, villagers gathered in the cottage with something to eat and had a fun by telling general stories or having a trial of their strength. To be a strong man was every important to them those days. Officially, they talked about politics, installing a new technology for agricultural work, or some plans to promote the development of their village. But also, they never forgot to have time of making poetry or storytelling. Young men who gathered in the cottage ranged from 15 to 20 years old. Therefore, they liked to tell funny stories or general stories, but once in a while, they talked about the rituals of their village or religious topics recognizing that they would become a member of the community soon. Thus, the communication in the cottage worked as 'lubricant' among villagers. -7- [Stories from visitors] It was visitors to the village community that diversified the storytelling. They were carpenters, craftsmen, vendors, men of religion and artists. The villagers expected 9

11 them to tell strange and interesting stories which they had encountered when traveling many places and were keen to know what the outside world was like. CHAPTER-2 The decline of Japanese storytelling 1. The collapse of the traditional family system As I mentioned in Chapter-1, the history of storytelling in Japan originated in the ancient times and especially, during the modern times, storytelling played a very important role in the community of agricultural societies. And a family, the minimum unit of the community was the most important element for the existence of storytelling. It was 1960's, when Japan experienced unprecedent economic growth, and the traditional family system which had supported storytelling collapsed so quickly because of it. All of us were convinced that "we are not in the postwar era any more!" Much money was selectively invested in heavy industry, which produced a great economic difference between the region where people were related with heavy industry and the region where they weren't. Young people graduating from junior high or high school rushed into cities or industrial areas. Not only young people but also the elders who supported a family went to get temporary jobs there during the off-season for farmers. Naturally, the best season for storytelling was the off-season season for the farmers, but now that most of men had gone to work far from the village, there remain only old people, children and women at home. Young people drained from the villages got married in the urban areas and tried to find a cozy space to live in with their wife -8- and children. That is why a lot of mammoth complex, such as Takashima-Danchi near Tokyo, were planned and built in Thus, the traditional family system based on agriculture-oriented society began to collapse. It is true that we could free ourselves from various conventional customs and 10

12 complicated relations with other people, but simultaneously we lost what we once had had at home: forgiveness, healing and even feeling of being relieved. And now, Japanese family size is becoming smaller and the number of unmarried people is increasing. How can we find the equivalent place of Irori, the center of storytelling? Is it possible that new type of storytelling would be born under these circumstances? 2. Urbanization We, Japanese people, living in this small country, managed to maintain our lives and cope with poverty caused by natural phenomena by cooperating with each other. We couldn't have done it without the family system and the community called 'village.' As Japanese economy grew rapidly, however, the number of people living in urban areas exceeded those who lived in farmlands, or local areas, for the first time in Japanese history. And the urban culture began to prevail, which is called "the material culture" and we put our priority on getting what we want and consuming them. We are satisfied when we have everything other people have. Though we can be rich physically, we will lose close relations with others except the relations in business. As a result of urbanization of Japan, storytelling lost its place not only in urban areas but also in villages, its home land. We down-sized the rituals and ceremonies related with Buddhism and Shinto. No place like "Wakashu-goya" could be found in our society. Naturally, storytelling, the greatest opportunity of exchanging stories and listening to each other and even building up a good relationship, began to decline. -9- CHAPTER-3 Today's storytelling - In what form can it exist in this society? 1. As entertainment (performing arts) In medieval times in Japan, storytelling was transformed into new professional performing art combined with other traditional arts. You can see some examples such as: "Heike Story" - sadness and resentment of soldiers of Heike clan who lost in a war during Heian Period was told by Biwa Hoshi to Biwa (a guitar-like instrument) Noh - a storytelling was transformed into a play being added with rhythmic intonation and combined with dancing and singing. 11

13 Johruri- a storytelling to Shamisen (a stringed instrument with a long neck) Kabuki and Bunraku - both of them were played with Joruri, Kabuki is a play and Bunraku is a puppet show. Storytelling being transformed into many performing arts as shown above, became quite different from its original style. These performing arts have been played because of their rarity value of classical arts. But it is also true that we have highly evaluated them for their artistic aspects and many of them have been played overseas recently. Ironically, storytelling has lost its original nature and purposes; entertainment for people in their daily life has been transformed into a performing art by professionals. 2. As rituals and ceremonies As I mentioned in chapter-1, storytelling in the modern times was developed along with various rituals and ceremonies of villages. But with the decrease of the rural population and with urbanization of people's lives, such rituals and ceremonies began to decrease and consequently, opportunities of having storytelling decreased. You would find a few examples of storytelling being presented at some folk museums Also, in our daily lives, we find storytelling still alive only when it is related with native religions. For, in the modern times, it was conductors in the meetings of praying Buddha, shrine maidens, priests and preachers who served stories in rituals. Therefore, storytelling possibly continues to exist as long as native religions exist. 3. As a record of the history - The Great Hanshin Earthquake One of the main purposes of storytelling is to pass stories down from generation to generation orally. Today, I believe it extremely important to convey the personal experiences in a war or a disaster, the living records, to next generation so that they would understand the real history and have the right sense of value. On every anniversary of the end of the Pacific War in August, many experiences during the war are being told from different standpoints, including personal stories in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with one and the only purpose: not to forget the misery and uselessness of the war. 12

14 Fortunately, on stage or through TV screen, professional actors or actresses can convey the message in the form of a private letter or an essay to those who have no opportunity to listen to the experience of the war. As a recent example, I will introduce a performance played by actors who met the Great Eeathquake in Kobe in January, It was a series of 20-minute stories, and in each story, actors played the experience of the teller. The audience were also those who suffered from the disaster. It was performed on a school ground in May. The audience were much impressed when the realistic scenes were reproduced on stage and were also moved as they could somehow observe the disaster from an objective point of view CHAPTER-4 Playback Theater and storytelling 1. In a community I mentioned that Japanese storytelling was born in a community whose minimum unit is a family, and it became decline afterwards in Chapter-1. On the other hand, as written in Improvising ReaL Life, the first company known as "Original Playback Theater" founded by Jonathan Fox performed in many different communities in the early stage, and then other companies being formed later did the same. Playback Theater and storytelling have much in common, but the background communities are different in their natures. The community in PT means all sorts of communities: local community, a group in a hospital, in a certain facility or in an office, and also a group where people have the same hobby. In other words, PT can create a community when people have something common or share something. The community in Japanese storytelling means a family and a village. A community is sometimes limited to certain age group or religion, but all the communities are closely related with the place they live in, the village. Having shared the same environment, people could comfort and forgive each other and have the feeling of being secured through storytelling. In the small 13

15 community, however, there was a risk of bringing the ill feeling of daily lives into storytelling. The environment of PT sometimes completely differs from that of storytelling. The biggest difference is that - it is intended to offer a secured time and space for people to share the storyteller's story and to feel that they are safe and are part of the community In this process, they often undergo a conflict which the community might produce, which proves, however, that PT is open to everyone in the audience, actors and the teller. 2. "To perform" and artistic aspects In Chapter 2 and 3, 1 mentioned that declining storytelling remains today only in the fields of literature and performing arts. Stories have been screened through the year, and the fictional touch was added to make the stories more interesting. Some stories became classic performing arts or religious rituals combined with music, songs, plays and stage setting. At the same time, however, the more storytelling becomes artistic, the more it loses the original purpose to obtain wisdom of life and healing through the mental communication. Playback Theater was created to offer a space for people to communicate with each other. And performing a story is a gift to the teller. And stage setting, lightning, active skills and music sometimes delicately decide how much the teller is touched and satisfied with the performance. PT was not created being intended to be highly evaluated artistically, but we cannot miss PT's artistic aspects based on its original concept which affects the communication between the teller and the audience: to respect the teller, to share the same feelings and enjoy the performances. 14

16 It often happens that the scene is done clumsily by beginners, which, on the contrary, moves the audience because the performance is unexpectedly fresh. And that is a very important aspect of PT. In short, I believe, Playback Theater is not a performing art, though sometimes very artistic, but is an opportunity of mental communication which is difficult for us to obtain in our daily lives. Creativity and artistic elements required for being an actor is not for getting higher artistic quality but for being prepared to accept the teller's story unconditionally and to open oneself to others. While storytelling in Japan has been transformed into performing arts, Playback Theater is coming closer to storytelling in its nature. 3. Specification and Identification -13- As mentioned in Chapter 1, storytelling can be universal when time and place are not specified and characters are not identified in a story. That is why a story can be told by different people in different places as an oral tradition. On the other hand, in the story being told in Playback Theater, everything is specified because the story belongs to the storyteller. The audience and actors resonate with the teller's experience and feel as if the teller is 'myself.' After series of stories being told and played, no matter how funny or ordinary they might be, a realistic life will be created from individual stories. Thanks to the development of various devices today, it is very easy for anyone to record an incident and we don't need to depend on our poor memory. But it is impossible to record our feelings or to build up a close relationship among the storyteller and the audience. As mentioned in Chapter 3, the personal stories told by those who suffered from the Great Earthquake are good examples, in fact moved a lot of people. I believe Playback Theater will continue to respect the experience of each person, and will convey the celebration and the paean to humans

17 [CONCLUSION] Storytelling and Playback Theater has the same nature: we, humans, have an urge to tell a story and can communicate with each other and obtain enjoyment and healing through storytelling, which should have been universal and everlasting. But unfortunately, Japanese storytelling is undoubtedly declining because the social development has made it difficult to maintain the suitable environment for storytelling. On the other hand, Playback Theater has been created in today's society and meets people's mental needs. PT is accepted by many people because we can find what we have been seeking in PT. To let Playback Theater remain as "today's storytelling", I would like to suggest as follows: 1. Those who perform in PT should learn various artistic skills in order to convey the story in more effective way. 2. PT should be open for everyone to be able to approach in many ways. It should not be the territory for special people. 3. Each personal story should be treated with much respect, for sometimes a universal aspect can be found in the series of stories. 4. Any individuals and groups who are leading PT should always be prepared to all sort of stories, as people, today, are facing terrible disasters and accidents everyday, like the Great Hanshin Earthquake. And it is proved that they can be healed through storytelling. Through summarizing Japanese storytelling and its history in this essay, I have recognized the nature of Playback Theater and also the importance of participating in PT. And I do believe that Playback Theater will occupy the space which once storytelling occupied in Japanese society and in our mind