''The Judith of Shimoda'' is a play attributed to
Bertolt Brecht
Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known professionally as Bertolt Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a pl ...
. Long believed to be incomplete, a full German
playscript of ''The Judith of Shimoda'' was reconstructed by
Hans Peter Neureuter and published by
Suhrkamp
Suhrkamp Verlag is a German publishing house, established in 1950 and generally acknowledged as one of the leading European publishers of fine literature. Its roots go back to the "arianized" part of the S. Fischer Verlag.
In January 2010 the ...
(Frankfurt/Main) in 2006.
Markus Wessendorf's 2008 translation of this playscript into English received its first stage production in April 2010 at the Kennedy Theatre in Honolulu and was published in 2019 in a collection of Brecht's dramatic fragments.
Play synopsis
''The Judith of Shimoda'' draws on historical events that occurred after
Commodore Perry compelled
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
to open to the West in 1854. The first American
consul
Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...
on Japanese soil has threatened to bomb the city of
Shimoda if the Japanese refuse to negotiate a
trade agreement
A trade agreement (also known as trade pact) is a wide-ranging taxes, tariff and trade treaty that often includes investment guarantees. It exists when two or more countries agree on terms that help them trade with each other. The most common tr ...
with the United States. To appease
the consul
''The Consul'' is an opera in three acts with music and libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti, his first full-length opera.
Performance history
Its first performance was on March 1, 1950 at the Schubert Theatre in Philadelphia with Patricia Neway as the ...
, Japanese authorities decide to ask a
geisha
{{Culture of Japan, Traditions, Geisha
{{nihongo, Geisha, 芸者 ({{IPAc-en, ˈ, ɡ, eɪ, ʃ, ə; {{IPA-ja, ɡeːɕa, lang), also known as {{nihongo, , 芸子, geiko (in Kyoto and Kanazawa) or {{nihongo, , 芸妓, geigi, are a class of female ...
, Okichi, to serve him. Brecht’s play primarily focuses on what happens to Okichi after she has agreed to sacrifice herself for the sake of her country. Okichi becomes a heroine of Japanese
patriotism
Patriotism is the feeling of love, devotion, and sense of attachment to one's country. This attachment can be a combination of many different feelings, language relating to one's own homeland, including ethnic, cultural, political or histor ...
who is celebrated in legends and ballads. At the same time, however, the life of the real Okichi is ruined: her marriage breaks up, she is called a “foreign whore,” and she dies impoverished and an
alcoholic
Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomin ...
.
Adaptation history
Even though the cover of the Suhrkamp edition lists "Bertolt Brecht" as the sole author of the play, the actual authorship of ''The Judith of Shimoda'' is more complicated. If the
palimpsest
In textual studies, a palimpsest () is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off so that the page can be reused for another document. Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid skin an ...
-like translation and adaptation history of the play were to be taken into account, the full play title might read as follows: “''The Judith of Shimoda''—Markus Wessendorf’s translation into English (2008) of Hans Peter Neureuter’s German reconstruction (2006) of Bertolt Brecht and
Hella Wuolijoki
Hella Wuolijoki (née Ella Marie Murrik; 22 July 1886 – 2 February 1954), also known by the pen name Juhani Tervapää, was an Estonian-born Finnish writer known for her ''Niskavuori'' series.Wuolijoki, Hella. Eesti Entsüklopeedia 10. Estonian ...
’s adaptation(s) into German and Finnish (1940) of
Glenn W. Shaw’s American translation (1935) of
Yamamoto Yuzo
Yamamoto (written: lit. "base of the mountain") is the 9th most common Japanese surname. Notable people with the surname include:
*, Japanese politician
*, Japanese World War II flying ace
*, Japanese judoka
*, Japanese manga artist and character ...
’s Japanese play ''Nyonin Aishi, Tojin Okichi Monogatari'' (1929)."
In fall 1940, during his exile in Finland, Brecht and his host, the playwright Hella Wuolijoki, collaborated on an adaptation of Yamamoto Yuzo’s play ''The Sad Tale of a Woman, the Story of Chink Okichi'' (''Nyonin Aishi, Tojin Okichi Monogatari'') from 1929.
As the centerpiece of Yuzo’s
triptych
A triptych ( ; from the Greek language, Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) t ...
of plays portraying different stages in Japan’s history, ''Chink Okichi'' provides the link between ''Sakazaki, Lord Dewa'' (1921), on the
feudal system
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
of the early
Tokugawa period
The or is the period between 1603 and 1867 in the history of Japan, when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa shogunate and the country's 300 regional ''daimyo''. Emerging from the chaos of the Sengoku period, the Edo period was characterize ...
, and ''The Crown of Life'' (1920), about a 20th-century shrimp canner desperately trying to fulfill his contract with a
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
company. ''Chink Okichi'' is set in the period right after Japan’s opening to the West in 1854 and focuses on the historical geisha Okichi, who saved her city Shimoda from the American threat of bombardment by agreeing to serve the first U.S. consul on Japanese soil.
An English translation of Yuzo’s ''Three Plays'' by the
Kobe
Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...
-based English teacher Glenn W. Shaw was published in 1935.
As an adaptation of ''Chink Okichi'' (in Shaw’s translation), ''The Judith of Shimoda'' rearranges, transforms and condenses Yuzo’s drama and turns it into a “play within a play” by adding a framework of interludes in which international guests of a Japanese
media mogul
A media proprietor, media mogul or media tycoon refers to a entrepreneur who controls, through personal ownership or via a dominant position in any media-related company or enterprise, media consumed by many individuals. Those with significant co ...
comment on the political and ideological implications of the Okichi story. Dennis Carroll has commented that "Brecht and Wuolijoki's additions and changes to the Shaw translation have respected the spirit of the original while gestically sharpening its situations."
Brecht’s notes reveal that he initially approached ''The Judith of Shimoda'' as a film project.
For decades, only five of the planned 11 scenes of Brecht's version were known, until Hans Peter Neureuter, Professor of New German Literature at the
University of Regensburg
The University of Regensburg (german: link=no, Universität Regensburg) is a public research university located in the medieval city of Regensburg, Bavaria, a city that is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The university was founded on 18 ...
, discovered a complete Finnish typescript among Wuolijoki’s literary remains and reconstructed a full German playscript by (re-) translating and filling in the missing pieces from that version.
Performance history
Neureuter’s reconstructed script was first performed in Austria, at the
Theater in der Josefstadt
The Theater in der Josefstadt is a theater in Vienna in the eighth district of Josefstadt. It was founded in 1788 and is the oldest still performing theater in Vienna. It is often referred to colloquially as simply ''Die Josefstadt''.
Following ...
(
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
) on September 11, 2008. The first production in Germany opened at the
Stadttheater Osnabrück on September 20, 2008.
In 2008, Markus Wessendorf, Professor of Theatre at the
University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
The University of Hawaii at Mānoa (University of Hawaii—Mānoa, UH Mānoa, Hawai'i, or simply UH) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Manoa, Mānoa, a neighborhood in Honolulu, Hawaii. It ...
, translated ''The Judith of Shimoda'' into English. The first production of this translation opened on April 30, 2010 at the University of Hawaiʻi's
Kennedy Theatre
Kennedy may refer to:
People
* John F. Kennedy (1917–1963), 35th president of the United States
* John Kennedy (Louisiana politician), (born 1951), US Senator from Louisiana
* Kennedy (surname), a family name (including a list of persons with ...
under the direction of
Paul Mitri
Paul may refer to:
*Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name)
* Paul (surname), a list of people
People
Christianity
*Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...
. This production was not only presented in conjunction with the 13th Symposium of the
International Brecht Society on "Brecht in/and Asia" at the University of Hawaiʻi in May 2010 but also resonated with an earlier attempt to stage Yuzoʻs work in Honolulu: i.e., the first English-language production of ''Sakazaki, Lord Dewa'' in Shaw's translation by the Theatre Guild of the University of Hawaiʻi in 1933. Mitri's staging was notable for its use of aerial choreography: "
..in the second half of the play
..Okichi begins to climb up various long pieces of red cloth that hang from the upper part of the theater. She uses these in various ways—sometimes to evade pursuers, sometimes as a chair on which to sit, and in the end as a way of hanging herself. This verticality is highly effective dramatically and visually; it is simultaneously yet another estrangement effect, a gesture toward Asian theatrical traditions—particularly Chinese acrobatics—and, paradoxically, a way of dramatizing various events and emotions even further."
[Stephen Brockmann. Review of ''The Judith of Shimoda''. ''Communications from the International Brecht Society'' 39 (2010). pages 76-81, here 80.] In February 2011, this production was invited to the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival (KCACTF Region VIII) at the Los Angeles Theatre Center. The first East Coast production of ''The Judith of Shimoda'' was presented from May 3–6, 2012 at New York's La MaMa E.T.C. (directed by Zishan Ugurlu, featuring Eugene Lang College students).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Judith Of Shimoda, The
Plays by Bertolt Brecht