著者
田中 徳一
出版者
日本演劇学会
雑誌
演劇学論集 日本演劇学会紀要 (ISSN:13482815)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.50, pp.143-162, 2010 (Released:2018-01-12)

Erwin Toku Baelz (1889-1945), the eldest son of Erwin Baelz, the man who contributed to the development of modern medicine in Japan, adapted and directed the fifth and sixth acts of a kabuki play Kanadehon Chushingura, and staged a German kabuki play named Death of Kampei (German title: Sampei's Sühnenopfer) in Berlin in 1938, enacted by the students of a drama school affiliated to Deutsches Theater. Although the performance was staged by German actors in German, the script was mainly based on joruri, a Japanese dramatic narrative; furthermore, other elements such as narrations, the way the actors delivered their lines, the acting, costumes, stage props and stage equipment were made close to those of genuine kabuki. It is considered that this was the first such trial in Europe before World War II. This paper describes the background to the performance of the German kabuki, the performance on the stage, the public response and critics, mainly based on primary sources, obtained from the Federal Archives in Koblenz.