The Kijimuna Festival in Okinawa is the only international children’s festival in Japan and works from all over the world are presented here. This year sees shows from France, Italy Austria, Taipei, Bulgaria, Croatia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Korea, Denmark, Sweden, England, Germany, Australia, Japan and ofcourse, Okinawa. Whilst Okinawa is part of Japan, it has a unique culture, heritage and language and hence, is always referred to independently as Okinawa or “Ryuku” (its traditional name). In total there are 46 shows presented over ten days, which is a mammoth feat for an annual festival with no full time staff.
As a Japanese -speaking actor and theatre maker, I have a strong interest in fostering opportunities for cultural exchange between Japan and Australia in the future. And I believe that many shows that are made for children and young people in Australia, should consider touring to Japan. For this reason I am interested in seeing how companies attending the Kijimuna festival from overseas, adapt their work for a Japanese audience. Whilst non- verbal physical theatre like Echoa (A fusion of Dance and Percussion from France), Surprise (Dance and Movement from Austria) and The Day His Watch Stopped (Masked performance from Korea) do not require any adaptation, there are many that rely on heavily on text and thus, must make at least a small attempt to ensure that the words are understood but without artistically compromising the work.
One of the ways that this can be done is through the use of a translator. In the case of Goodbye Mr Muffin (from Denmark), the artists chose to present the work in Danish and to share the spotlight with a Japanese Translator who, rather than translating the entire work, acted as a narrator who sat side of stage a provided occasional narration as though reading from a story book and because the piece was highly visual (featuring a little puppet guinea pig), this suited the piece to a T and was all that was needed.
In the case of The Overcoat (an award winning piece from Bulgaria), however, even though the actors do not speak or understand Japanese, they learnt the entire script in Japanese and presented this to the audience. Whilst the audience really appreciated this attempt (and showed their appreciation in VERY warm acclamation at the end of the show), the fact of the matter was that the intonation was so strange that at least 50% of their dialogue made little sense and may as well have been presented in Bulgarian.
Some shows, on the other hand, could have attempted a little more to employ Japanese language. La Baracca from Italy presenting two shows at the festival Under a different Light and Looking at the Sky; both were movement based shows for 1-3 year olds that only used a little language (just simple words here and there). Mostly, these words were spoken in Italian, but occasionally, the actor had made the effort to learn the word in Japanese. There is no doubt that when a word was offered to the audience in Japanese, you could feel and hear a response from the children. In many ways, shows such as these are perfect for travelling the world, because they do not rely too heavily on language, however, when a word is included, it is generally because it is very important and with just a little more effort to learn these in the language of the host country, the power of these words would not be lost on the audience.
Based on these examples, it can be concluded that a reception of a piece for an audience of children is heightened if it is presented in their language, but not to stretch the actors beyond their ability or the artistic integrity of the piece will be damaged.
Kazenoko Theatre Company are masters at adapting their work for an international audience and have a policy to always use the childrens’ mother tounge. I believe they have developed a model of best practise, which is very thorough and whilst it changes depending on the work, it involves working with a translator for many months leading up to the tour. Sometimes a whole work is performed in the other language, sometimes words and phrases here and there. Sometimes the piece is translated many times whilst on tour adopting words from the local dialect of each town it visits.
Takagaki-san of Kazenoko Tokyo explains, “Not every word in a play needs translation (Nor would their actors be capable of performing fluently in English). Theatre communicates with its audience in many ways other than language alone; through the design, semiotics, the physicality of the actors, the emotions conveyed, the rhythm and of course through the connection with a live audience and the actions and reactions that feed from that.”
I recall a beautiful conversation that I had over a lunch of Okonomiyaki (Japanese Pizza) with Kazenoko Tokyo actor, Kumiko Itoo last year, about her experience in adapting Chisai Gekidan (Small Theatre) for Canada. “Through the process of translating a piece, on the floor (on your feet in the rehearsal room), you realise that many of the words that exist in the piece are not needed, for example, you realise that you are saying something to the audience that is already explained through action.” This strikes a chord with me “The power of theatre!” I say! I am feeling inspired both by the conversation and by the most delicious Okonomiyaki that I have ever tasted! Kumiko explains that this process boils the language of the play down to its essential meaning. This inturn effects the piece positively when it returns to Japan, many of the superfluous language remains discarded and the piece continues to evolve.
Kumiko goes on to describe the experience of performing Chisai Gekidan for a Canadian audience. “We were so surprised by their reactions! They reacted to different parts of the piece (compared to a Japanese audience) and in turn, those parts of the piece grew and took on new meaning. Then, when we returned to Japan, the reactions to the evolved piece were different again. It was a great experience for the performer because you had to be in the moment, ready for anything.”
We go on to have a conversation about the importance of honesty in Children’s theatre. We both relate to this as performers and share stories of being told, loud and clear, by audience members, if they didn’t believe us. Furthermore, Kumiko points out that they must believe the story and the justifications for the actions of the characters on stage. We both agree that this is why we love being involved in the making of theatre for children, because of its integrity.
It is this integrity that theatre makers need to take into the rehearsal room when creating work for children and also when adapting it for a non-English speaking audience. Put yourself in the shoes of the children of the country in which it will be performed and follow your piece through their eyes and in their language and adapt the piece accordingly. And as Wolfgang Schneider, President of ASSITEJ International pointed out at the forum on Theatre for Children (Kijimuna Festival, 3rd July 2009) “Do not give them the children’s menu like in a restaurant which is half the price and half the portion!” Or as Clause Mandoe of Denmark who performed “Waiting for Mr Muffin” explained at the same forum “You can never fool an audience of children. If you think you can you are only fooling yourself.”
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