ABSTRACT

In the history of Shakespeare productions in Japan, the achievements of Deguchi Norio (1940-), as the founder-director of ‘the Shakespeare Theatre’, are outstanding. It was the first Japanese theatre company whose raison d’être was to perform the complete works of Shakespeare. In May 1975, monthly productions began at a small underground theatre called ‘JeanJean’ in Shibuya, a young and trendy district in Tokyo. Gaining recognition and popularity for ‘Shakespeare in Jeans and T-shirts’, the company completed Shakespeare’s entire thirty-seven works by June 1981.