Research: Women’s playwriting debut in kabuki theatre and its linguistic and representational role in the modern Japanese theatre development.
Ludovica Marincioni, Curriculum East Asia, XXXVIII cycle
RESEARCH PROJECT'S ABSTRACT:
For several centuries, theatre in Japan has been a prerogative of male authors and performers. However, in the late Meiji period, at the beginning of the twentieth century, thanks to the activity and success of two female artists named Hasegawa Shigure (1879–1941) and Okada Yachiyo (1883–1962), drama written by women was finally recognized and numerous female authors achieved the space and means to gain full access to the Japanese theatrical world. At the beginning of their activity, Japanese dramatic art was going through a profound transformation; especially kabuki, the traditional theatrical style born around the end of the 16th century, was changing. Kabuki represented the starting point for many female authors who made their debut in the following years.
For a long-time, studies on Japanese women's playwriting have been relegated to a corner of research, and there is still no comprehensive research framework regarding the two women authors considered as fundamental in the Japanese theatre’s history.
Thus, my project’s aim is to analyse in detail the onset of women's playwriting and the innovations it introduced in language and style within the Japanese theatrical evolution of the last century, starting with the appearance of women's playwriting in the modern era in the kabuki repertoire. The focus will be a fifty years - long stage, from the late Meiji Period (1868-1912) to the Early Shōwa period (1926-1989), in order to understand what this phase has left within the transformation process and development of Japanese drama.
11/2022 - Today: PhD candidate in Civilizations of Asia and Africa, Italian Institute of Oriental Studies (ISO), Sapienza University of Rome (Italy).
Research project's title: Women’s playwriting debut in kabuki theatre and its linguistic and representational role in the modern Japanese theatre development.
Supervisor: Professor Matilde Mastrangelo, Sapienza University of Rome
2019 - 2022: Master’s Degree in Oriental Languages and Civilizations, Italian Institute of Oriental Studies (ISO), Sapienza University of Rome (Italy).
Dissertation: Expressing modernity through kabuki: Sakura fubuki by Hasegawa Shigure.
2014 - 2017: Bachelor’s Degree in Oriental Languages and Civilizations, Italian Institute of Oriental Studies (ISO), Sapienza University of Rome (Italy).
Dissertation: The Greece of Mishima Yukio and Murakami Haruki: myths of the West and literary icons of Japan.