A Conversation with Masataka
matsuda
Interview by Tessa Archambault
What is the story behind the play? What inspired you
to write this piece?
In 1982, there was a major flood in Nagasaki, my hometown.
Many people were killed and the damage was tremendous.
This triggered me to write the play. When I ride a train
at night, I see the city from the window. A house happens
to catch my eyes and if the house is lit, I feel that
there is someone’s life in there. I have a desire
to depict a life of someone whom I don’t know.
There is a sense of the Sea in the background, which
signifies at times the force of nature beyond human’s
control, at times destiny, and at times, maybe death.
Maybe I wanted to depict a human’s panic when confronted
with what the Sea signifies.
Could you describe your approach to writing this play?
I wanted to write as if to conduct a fixed point observation
on a room. I wanted to depict people’s emotions
and actions in details. I wanted to express that emotions
cannot be conveyed to others easily and directly, that
because of the complicated expression of the emotions,
something other than your true emotions is often perceived
by others. And yet, that something that you think is
not your true feeling may be exactly what has to do with
the subconscious of men and women. When did you begin writing this play?
I wrote the first proof quite some time ago that I don’t
remember, but I do remember almost finishing it overnight.
I revised this piece about twice after that. I wrote
about this in a postscript of the magazine, Serifu
no Jidai (The era of dialogues) when this piece appeared
in it.
What do you hope to gain from Playlabs?
At PlayLabs, the dialogue I wrote will be uttered in
a different language, so I’ve been very anxious
to listen to that sound. What a beautiful thing that
the sound is different even though the meaning is same.
Also, I think that the original meanings of my dialogues
will be shaken up when it’s spoken in a different
language and I am very eager to know what and how that
will be.
Do you think that this experience will affect the Japanese
version of your play?
As I said, I am looking forward to the experience
since the English expression may shed light on the essence
of the original work created with an exclusively Japanese
thinking process. I cannot get over the wonder that my
own words will be ringing like echoes in the English
dialogues.
How do you imagine your play might evolve afterwards?
Do you have any future performances in English?
I certainly hope that this play will be translated
and presented in various places. My latest script, Autodafe,
which is very different from this piece, will have
a staged reading in NYC in September. Why are you a playwright as opposed to a screenwriter?
What attracts you to the theatre as an artistic medium?
What’s fascinating about theatre is that people
gather to an event that happens only once in the world
(public presentation). I am attracted to theatrical pieces
that conjures up an image that there is something different
on stage even though the same air exists on stage and
in the audience area. |
