9 October 2017
From 7 to 11 September 2017, Huang Changyong, President of Shanghai Theatre Academy (STA), and party visited the Toga Festival in Japan, and also visited the J. F. Oberlin University.
Japan’s Toga Festival is one of the famous theatre festivals in the world. Since the inception of the first Toga Festival in 1982, troupes and actors from South Korea, Mainland China, Taiwan, Europe, the United States and other countries and regions have come to the remote village of Toga, as well as audiences from all over the world, to not only feel Tadashi Suzuki’s art of directing, but also personally appreciate the tranquility and sanctity of Toga, a fictitious land of peace.
The performances at the 2017 Toga Festival included “Madam de Sade (Act II), “Hamlet” and “Cyrano de Bergerac” (Chinese-Japanese-Russian language edition) adapted from the Western classical plays, but also “Spring Comes to the North” adapted from the Japanese native writer, as well as the repertoire of Toga Festival “Greetings from the End of the World” staged at the Water Theatre. The play for the Asian Directors Contest is “A Doll’s House (Act III), the classic work by Ibsen, the Norwegian playwright, with performances of different versions of the play from directors from five countries and regions including Japan, Mainland China, South Korea, Indonesia and Taiwan. In addition to a rich program of theatrical performances, there were also two seminars, three lectures and one screening of documentary films, enabling the theatre practitioners to learn more about the creation of Tadashi Suzuki and the development of his Suzuki Company of Toga (SCOT). Due to the limited time, the STA group observed a class session of the Suzuki Method of Actor Training and watched four performances, namely, "Spring Comes to the North", "Madame de Sade", "Greetings from the End of the World'" and "Cyrano de Bergerac”.
During the visit, President Huang Changyong exchanged views with Mr Tadashi Suzuki on the matters concerning the in-depth cooperation between STA and SCOT troupe, and presented the STA school flag to Mr Suzuki.
On 11 September, after completing the visit to the Toga Festival, President Huang Changyong and party came to the J. F. Oberlin University for visit and exchange. The STA group was warmly received by Mr Takayasu Mitani, President of J. F. Oberlin University and other senior members of the university leadership. The J. F. Oberlin University is a private comprehensive university with its main campus in Machida, a suburb of Tokyo. It has a College of Performing and Visual Arts and has sent students to study at STA and perform Peking opera. In the first half of 2017, the Chancellor of J. F. Oberlin University visited STA. This visit by President Huang Changyong was for detailed discussion on matters concerning further cooperation.
