Playing to a different tune

Aaron Paterson is the only non-japanese member of the theatre company Ishinha. He tells KS how it came to be so.

Whenever I answer the inevitable, “Why did you come to Japan?” by saying I was interested in Japanese theatre I usually encounter blank faces or have to explain I don't mean movie “theaters.” Initially, I was enthusiastic about Japan's traditional styles that have remained unchanged for hundreds of years until I realised that was exactly the problem. Beautiful as they are, they seemed to be living museum pieces to me and the only contemporary theatre I could find in Osaka and Kansai looked like staged TV dramas or translated English texts. I even considered watching a Japanese Gone with the Wind musical. By this time though, I had decided to take matters into my own hands.

I produced and directed an open-air production at Osaka-jo Koen. Through that, I met a Japanese company manager who introduced me to a variety of contemporary Japanese theatre that often goes unnoticed by the foreigner. After watching a studio performance by her company Ishinha, she invited me to observe rehearsals for their large-scale production Keaton. Off-the-cuff, I asked to audition for them. What I didn't know was the level of commitment, the unique opportunity and number of mosquito bites I was signing up for. I'm still unsure what inspired me to audition, though I have training as both an actor and a dancer I have no ambition to be a performer. I am primarily a director and this was an opportunity to learn and participate that would not have been possible as a casual observer: I could be involved.

Ishinha is over thirty years old and some members have been in the company for over ten years. As well as performing all over Japan, they have toured to Australia and Europe and I am the first foreigner to join the company. Sad to say my Japanese is not the best but we almost immediately engaged in language exchange both through lessons and in the training room and it has given me a fairly random Japanese vocabulary. With over thirty performers, there were many different reactions to communication. Some of them speak very good English, for which I am very grateful; others speak fluent gesture; and others speak to me in a flow of Japanese that, slowly but surely, I am beginning to understand. Although communication is still a problem, I carry my dictionary and we try to use it only in case of emergencies. As the director, Mr. Matsumoto, pointedly noted to me at the end of one rehearsal, “Language. No need.”

The lack of language is also a key part of Ishinha's artistic style. Although we speak Japanese we only use a series of single words delivered in a rhythmical pattern as laid out by Matsumoto. We never engage in dialogue. Initially, I believed this would be easier for me but Ishinha uses a specific Osaka dialect called Jan-Jan. The intonation is very precise and I have sat for thirty minutes practicing the word “Turbine” with the correct katakana pronunciation and intonation. Then I just have to say it on the right beat.

At the beginning of September, all our members gave up their other jobs to work in Nanko building our theatre, set, costumes and props. We now live, eat and work together in a large shed where we have a bunk in the scaffolding as our bed. By day, we prepare the theatre and sets and in the evening we rehearse outdoors as the sun sets and on into the night.

Ishinha has provided me with further training and education in theatre but also about people and Japan. I cannot say that it has been an easy ride; the show has literally had my blood and sweat already and I'm pretty sure the tears will come before it's all over. I have no complaints though; this is more than I could have hoped for when I came to Japan.

Text: Aaron Paterson Photos: Yuji Nakagawa