SUZUKI TADASHI

鈴木忠志鈴木忠志

 Tadashi Suzuki is the founder and director of the Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT) based in Toga Village, located in the mountains of Toyama prefecture. He is the organizer of Japan’s first international theatre festival (Toga Festival) and the creator of the Suzuki Method of Actor Training. Suzuki also plays an important role with several other organizations: as General Artistic Director of Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (1995~2007), as a member of the International Theatre Olympics Committee, as founding member of the BeSeTo Festival (jointly organized by leading theatre professionals from Japan, China and Korea) and as Chairman of the Board of Directors for the Japan Performing Arts Foundation, a nation-wide network of theatre professionals in Japan.
 Suzuki’s works include “On the Dramatic Passions”, “The Trojan Women”, “Dionysus”, “King Lear”, “Cyrano de Bergerac”, “Madame de Sade” and many others. Besides productions with his own company, he has directed several international collaborations, such as “The Tale of Lear”, co-produced and presented by four leading regional theatres in the US; “King Lear”, presented with the Moscow Art Theatre; “Oedipus Rex”, co-produced by Cultural Olympiad and Düsseldorf Schauspiel haus; and “Electra”, produced by Ansan Arts Center/Arco Arts Theatre in Korea and the Taganka Theatre in Russia.
 Suzuki has articulated his theories in a number of books.  A collection of his writings in English, “Culture is the Body” is published by the Theatre Communications Group in New York.  The book has been translated and published in countries including China, Italy, Lithuania, Greece, Indonesia, Hungary, etc. He has taught his system of actor training in schools and theatres throughout the world, including The Juilliard School in New York and the Moscow Art Theatre. Also, a book written on Suzuki titled “The Theatre of Suzuki Tadashi” is published by Cambridge University Press as part of their Directors in Perspective series, featuring leading theatre directors of the 20th Century. These series include works on Meyerhold, Brecht, Strehler, Peter Brook and Robert Wilson among others.
 Not just one of the world’s foremost theatre directors, Suzuki is also a seminal thinker and practitioner whose work has a powerful influence on theatre everywhere. Suzuki’s primary concerns include: the structure of a theatre group, the creation and use of theatrical space, and the overcoming of cultural and national barriers in the interest of creating work that is truly universal. Suzuki has established in Toga one of the largest international theatre centers in the world. Surrounded by the beautiful wilderness of Toga, the facility includes six theatres, rehearsal rooms, offices, lodgings, restaurants, etc.
 Suzuki’s activities, both as a director creating multilingual and multicultural productions and as a festival producer bringing people from throughout the world together in the context of shared theatrical endeavor, reflect an aggressive approach to dealing with the fundamental issues of our times.

Chronology
Including premiere productions with locations

1962

“The Elephant” (by Minoru Betsuyaku), Tokyo

“A and B, and a Woman” (by Minoru Betsuyaku), Tokyo

1966

Suzuki founds the theatre company Waseda Shogekijo together with Minoru Betsuyaku, Hiroshi Ono, Ikuko Saito, Kosuke Tsutamori and others.
Completion of the theatre space named “Waseda Shogekijo”, Tokyo

“The Little Match Girl” (by Minoru Betsuyaku) for the opening of the new theatre, Waseda Shogekijo, Tokyo

“The Temple Gate” (by Minoru Betsuyaku), Tokyo

“The Candlestick” (by Masayuki Nobeyama), Tokyo

1967

“Click-Clack Mountain” (by Osamu Dazai), Tokyo

“The Sparrow Who Lost Her Tongue” (by Osamu Dazai), Tokyo

“My Beatles or Funeral” (by Makoto Sato), Tokyo

“The Smile of Dr. Maximillian” (by Minoru Betsuyaku), Tokyo

1968

“Narukami (The Thunder God)” (composition by Suzuki based on the Kabuki play), Tokyo

“The Lower Depths” (composition by Suzuki and Minoru Betsuyaku based on Maxim Gorky's play), Tokyo

1969

“On the Dramatic Passions Ⅰ” (composition by Suzuki), Tokyo

“A Girl's Mask” (by Juro Kara), Tokyo

1970

“On the Dramatic Passions Ⅱ” (composition by Suzuki), Tokyo

“White Comedy” (composition by Suzuki based on the plays by Nanboku Tsuruya), Tokyo

“On the Dramatic Passions Ⅲ” (composition by Suzuki), Tokyo

1971

“Somekaete Gonichi no Omemie” (composition by Suzuki), Tokyo

1972

Participation in Théâtre des Nations Festival in Paris (Artistic Director Jean-Louis Barrault) with “On the Dramatic Passions Ⅱ”

“Don Hamlet” (composition by Suzuki), Tokyo

1974

Appointed Artistic Director of Iwanami Hall, Tokyo

“The Trojan Women” (by Euripides), Tokyo

1975

“Night and the Clock” (composition by Suzuki), Tokyo

1976

The company moves to Toga.

Opening of the converted farmhouse theatre, Toga Sanbo in Toga village, Toyama Prefecture with “Night and Feast Ⅰ” (composition by Suzuki)

1977

“Mirrors and Cabbages” (by Yasunari Takahashi), Tokyo

“Night and Feast Ⅱ - Salome” (composition by Suzuki), Toga

1978

“The Bacchae” (by Euripides), Tokyo

“Night and Feast Ⅲ - Macbeth” (composition by Suzuki), Toga

“Shadow of Death” (composition by Suzuki) at Festival d'Automne, Paris

1979

“Night and Feast Ⅳ - A Family Disease” (composition by Suzuki), Toga

1981

Musical “Sweeney Todd” (music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim), Tokyo

1982

Founds the Japan Performing Arts Center in Toga, Chairman

Opening of the Open Air Theatre in Toga

Holds the First International Theatre Festival in Japan: “Toga Festival”, in Toga

“The Luncheon” (composition by Suzuki), Tokyo

1983

“Clytemnestra” (by Aeschylus and Euripides), Toga

“Tragedy - the Fall of the House of Atreus” (by Aeschylus and Euripides), Tokyo

1984

Changes the company name from Waseda Shogekijo to Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT)

“King Lear” (by William Shakespeare), Toga

“Three Sisters” (by Anton Chekhov), Toga

1986

“The Cherry Orchard” (by Anton Chekhov), Toga

1988

Appointed Artistic Director of ACM Theatre, in Mito

“The Tale of Lear” co-produced by four American Regional Theatres

“Uncle Vanya” (by Anton Chekhov), Toga

1989

“Hamlet” (adapted from William Shakespeare's Hamlet), Toga

1990

“Dionysus” (by Euripides), Mito

1991

“Macbeth” (by William Shakespeare), Mito

“Greetings from the Edge of the Earth” (composition by Suzuki), Toga

1992

Founds Saratoga International Theatre Institute (SITI) with American Director, Anne Bogart in Saratoga Springs, New York
Presents a bilingual (Japanese and English) production of "Dionysus"

“Ivanov” (by Anton Chekhov), Mito

1993

“Juliet” (adapted from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet), Toga

1994

Founds the International Committee of Theatre Olympics with Theodoros Terzopoulos (Greece), Robert Wilson (USA), Yuri Lyubimov (Russia), Heiner Müller (Germany), Antunes Filho (Brazil) and others

Founds the BeSeTo (Beijing, Seoul, Tokyo) Theatre Festival amongst three countries, Japan, China and Korea, along with Kim Eui Kyung (President of Korean Centre of International Theatre Institute) and Xu Xiao Zhong (President of the Central Academy of Drama, China)
The 1st BeSeTo Theatre Festival in Seoul

Opening of the New Toga Sanbo

“Shrinking Japan Rises Again” (composition by Suzuki), Toga

1995

Appointed General Artistic Director of Shizuoka Performing Arts Center (SPAC)

The 1st Theatre Olympics in Athens and Delphi

“Electra” (by Hofmannsthal) co-directed with Satoshi Miyagi, Toga

1996

“John Silver” (by Juro Kara), Toga

“Click-Clack Mountain - New Version” (by Osamu Dazai), Toga

1997

Opening of the Shizuoka Performing Arts Park

1998

Opera “Vision of Lear” (music written by Toshio Hosokawa) for the Munich Biennale, International Festival for New Music Theatre

“The Mirror House” (composition by Suzuki), Toga

“Sake, the Taste of Tears” (composition by Suzuki), Shizuoka

1999

Opening of the Shizuoka Arts Theatre

The 2nd Theatre Olympics in Shizuoka, hosted by SPAC

“Cyrano de Bergerac” (by Edmond Rostand), Shizuoka

“Sayonara Toga Festival” (composition by Suzuki), Toga

2000

Founds of the Japan Performing Arts Foundation, Chairman of the board of directors

“Oedipus Rex” (by Sophocles), Shizuoka

Noh play “Utoh” (composition by Suzuki) with Hideo Kanze as the Shite, Shizuoka

“Cinderella - Bride of the Vampire” (composition by Suzuki), Shizuoka

2002

“The Chekhov” (composition by Suzuki), Shizuoka

2004

“Okuni and Gohei” (by Junichiro Tanizaki), Shizuoka

“Ghosts” (by Henrik Ibsen), Shizuoka

“King Lear” directed for the repertory of Moscow Art Theatre (Artistic Director Oleg Tabakov), Moscow

"The Theatre of Suzuki Tadashi" published by Cambridge University Press

2005

“Japanese Folks in the Hospital Ward” (composition by Suzuki), Shizuoka

“The Stranger in the Junkyard Shantytown” (composition by Suzuki based on Maxim Gorky's 'The Lower Depths'), Shizuoka

2006

Buddhist liturgical chant “Gyatei-Gyatei”, Shizuoka

2007

“A and B, and a Woman - New Version” (by Minoru Betsuyaku), Shizuoka

Resigns the General Artistic Director of Shizuoka Performing Arts Center

“Madame de Sade (Act II)” (by Yukio Mishima), Shizuoka

“Electra” directed for the repertory of Taganka Theatre (Artistic Director Yuri Lyubimov), Moscow

2009

“Click-Clack Mountain at the Junkyard Shantytown”, Toga

Opera “La Traviata”, Shizuoka

2010

“Shrinking Japan Rises Again – New Edition” (by Shin Hasegawa), Toga

2011

“La Dame aux Camélias” co-produced by National Theater & Concert Hall, Taipei

“Shrinking Japan Rises Again – New Edition based on the play ‘Mother of My Dreams’” (by Shin Hasegawa), Toga

2012

“Cinderella” (compositon by Suzuki), Shizuoka

Ikuko Saito, founding member and later Executive Director of SCOT, passes away.

2013

“Mother of My Dreams –A New Adaptation– ” (composition by Suzuki), Toga

2014

“The Origin of the Karatachi Song” (by Nobuo Kazawa), Toga

“The Trojan Women – New Version” (by Euripides), Toga

2015

Presents “Dionysus” for the grand opening of the Gubei Watertown Great Wall Theatre, located at the foot of the Great Wall, north of Beijing
Holds the annual spring “Suzuki Training School” at Gubei Watertown beginning in 2016

“CULTURE IS THE BODY”, an English translation of Suzuki's writings on theatre, published by the Theatre Communications Group in New York

2016

“Illusion Unbound” (by Kazawa Nobuo), Toga

“Nippon-jin-Based on the play “Mother of My Dreams”-”(by Shin Hasegawa), Toga

2017

“Springtime in the North” (by Kazawa Nobuo), Toga

2018

“Isolated Landscape in Winter” (composition by Suzuki), Toga

2019

The 9th Theatre Olympics in Toyama (Toga, Kurobe) and St. Petersburg, jointly hosted by Japan and Russia
Appointed Artistic Director of the Japan program

Kosuke Tsutamori, founding member of the company, passes away.

2020

Minoru Betsuyaku, founding member of the company, passes away.

“Greetings from the Edge of the Earth Ⅱ” (composition by Suzuki), Toga

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International Tours

Argentina

1993
Buenos Aires

Australia

1988
Sydney
1989
Canberra
1989
Melbourne
1992
Adelaide
1992
Hobart

Austria

1992
Vienna

Belgium

1985
Brussels
1987
Antwerp

Brazil

1993
Sao Paulo

Bulgaria

2009
Sofia

Canada

1995
Toronto

Chile

1993
Santiago

China

1996
Beijing
1996
Shanghai
2008
Nanjing
2016
Guangzhou
2018
Macau

Columbia

1998
Bogota

Denmark

1985
Copenhagen

Finland

1989
Helsinki
1989
Lahti

France

1972
Paris
1973
Nancy
1987
Grenoble
1987
Bordeaux
1987
Reims
2003
Montpellier

Georgia

2016
Tbilisi

Germany

1977
Berlin
1977
Bonn
1985
Frankfurt
1987
Stuttgart
1998
Munich
2002
Düsseldorf

Greece

1985
Athens
1985
Thessaloniki
1985
Delphi
2002
Epidaurus

Hong Kong

1986
Hong Kong

Holland

1973
Amsterdam

Indonesia

2018
Yogyakarta

Italy

1977
Rome
1985
Udine
1985
Venetia
1986
Milan
1994
Vicenza
2003
Asti
2009
Naples

Korea

1986
Seoul
2003
Uijeongbu
2008
Ansan

Lithuania

2010
Vilnius

Poland

1975
Warsaw
1975
Wroclaw

Portugal

1977
Lisbon

Russia (Soviet Union)

1991
Moscow
2005
St. Petersburg

Singapore

2009
Singapore

Spain

1986
Madrid
1986
Tenerife
1986
Las palmas
1987
Pamplona
1987
Bilbao

Sweden

1996
Stockholm

Switzerland

1986
Geneve

Taiwan

2007
Taipei
2011
Kaohsiung

Turkey

1998
Istanbul

United Kingdom

1985
London
2012
Edinburgh

United States

1979
New York
1979
Milwaukee
1982
Chicago
1982
St. Lewis
1984
Los Angeles
1985
Washington D.C
1985
San Diego
1986
Baltimore
1987
Berkeley
1987
Minneapolis
1988
Springfield
1991
Purchase
1992
Saratoga Springs
2001
Iowa
2001
San Francisco
2001
Delaware
2001
Pittsburgh

*The year listed marks the first time the company performed in each city. The company has toured Paris, New York, Moscow, etc. for several times.

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