HIDEKI NODA
THE DIVER
OBERON BOOKS
LONDON
First published in 2008 by Oberon Books Ltd
Electronic edition published in 2013
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Copyright © Colin Teevan and Hideki Noda 2008
Colin Teevan and Hideki Noda are hereby identified as authors of this play in accordance with section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. The authors have asserted their moral rights.
All rights whatsoever in this play are strictly reserved and application for performance etc. should be made before commencement of rehearsal to Curtis Brown Ltd, Haymarket House, 28–29 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4SP
(cb@curtisbrown.co.uk). No performance may be given unless a licence has been obtained, and no alterations may be made in the title or the text of the play without the authors’ prior written consent.
You may not copy, store, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or binding or by any means (print, electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
PB ISBN: 978-1-84002-8683
E ISBN: 978-1-8494-3965-7
Cover image: Yuki Sawaga.
Cover Photos: Sheila Burnett and Nadia Vawda
eBook conversion by Replika Press PVT Ltd, India.
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Contents
Foreword to The Diver
Characters
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
Scene 6
Scene 7
Scene 8
Scene 9
Scene 10
Scene 11
Scene 12
Scene 13
Scene 14
Scene 15
Scene 16
Scene 17
Scene 18
Scene 19
Scene 20
Scene 21
Scene 22
Scene 23
Scene 24
Scene 25
Scene 26
Scene 28
Scene 29
Scene 30
Foreword to The Diver
Hideki Noda in conversation with Nina Steiger
After our successful production of The Bee at Soho Theatre in the summer of 2006, our team was excited to collaborate on another production and to continue exploring the Japanese stylization of Noh and Kabuki, which, in that show, had been so interesting to Western audiences. There was an appreciation of each other’s processes as I had worked with Colin and the cast, particularly Kathryn Hunter. After three preliminary workshops, the story was eventually structured and Colin was able to begin scripting.
Our production of The Diver draws on three sets of source material: the first is a Noh play called Ama, which translates as ‘Pearl Diver Woman’ in Japanese. The second one is the Tale of Genji, a classical Japanese novel written in 1008, just a thousand years ago by a Japanese noblewoman, Murasaki Shikibu. It is a clever, poetic and fantastic novel, which tells the story of Genji, the son of the emperor and a low-ranking concubine and it forms the basis of several important Noh plays. I had read the Genji Tales as a high school student and found it a difficult text as its complex grammar and language are from the Heian period court Japanese. The third piece of source material is a real criminal case, which held a remarkable resonance with the two older texts.
The Noh stylization is the simplest imaginable, conveying an intense internal energy with an extremely still, spare physical language. To explore the world of the Noh play we looked at one called Aoi no Ue (Lady Aoi) by Zeami, an actor and writer who lived and performed in 14th and 15th centuries. It tells the story of Genji, his wife Lady Aoi and mistress, Lady Rokujo. It is an intense and passionate story but in order to fully understand the world of this play, we needed to look at the Genji Tales on which it is based.
So as an ensemble, we studied this episode of jealousy and possession in the Tales and we became very interested in the characters and stories, in particular, the love and jealousy in the relationship between Aoi and Rokujo, the revenge tragedy and the notion of a wandering spirit. As we worked with the Noh play and the Genji Tales, we found the stories contemporary and compelling. As with The Bee, there is an implicit connection with today’s society, its values and aesthetics but in these Tales, we felt there was still a space for something else. And this led me to a modern criminal case in which a young woman was driven to murder, compelled by similar emotions to those that motivate the characters in the Genji story.
After World War II, the way of thinking in Japan changed, relating less to philosophy and religion and instead, focusing on the pursuit of economic growth and the trends of US culture. It occurs to me that we lost a more symbolic, abstracted way of thinking.
Recently, in Japan, especially among the youth, there has been a growing interest in areas like fortune-telling and past lives, seeking answers and creating belief systems based on superstition. For instance, many people in Japan now believe that blood type carries information about your character and personality and even, your future. Still, in some way, this is a return to thinking about spirits and destiny that is the central focus of the Genji Tales and Noh drama. Partly through the blending of Eastern and Western traditions and ancient and modern texts, we can re-connect the stories from the distant past to modern trends and convictions.
I’m really interested in ancient belief. In the past, it was thought that the spirit was connected to one’s own culture. Today as well, people need to be able to trace the connections between their lives and the sense of a wider social history. In The Diver, the Psychiatrist helps the Woman to understand who she is and where she comes from by exploring the links between her own story and the culture and civilisation of the past. Nevertheless, this is a complicated process and the play attempts to express some of the difficulties of understanding another person’s mentality, not to mention the challenges of understanding a different culture.
The development of our script depends hugely on its physical life which we are discovering in rehearsal every day; we are constantly making adjustments, looking for lines that explain too much and scenes that are too overt. I believe good theatre resists the urge to explain too much; the theatrical imagination can understand things that are implied through action, suggestion, image, gesture, simplicity. This is the essence of Noh style and it is the opposite of the television culture today, which provides you with everything. By leaving things out or letting physicality, style and tone tell the story, we involve the audience as they stretch their imaginations.
In our production, the process is unusual, ambiguous and very important as a journey. At the moment, we have the ending of the play written but we still don’t feel we fully understand it. In the Eastern tradition, this uncertainty is essential to the process. However, when I work in Tokyo with Japanese actors, I always tell them to make it clear, not to be too ambiguous. I’m always thinking about the border between Eastern and Western ways of
thinking. Even for a Japanese ensemble, the Noh plays are highly complex and ambiguous. For our ensemble and in making The Diver, the process has been to find a balance between the poetic intensity of these ancient stories and the timeless values and images at their heart.
Characters
PSYCHIATRIST
WOMAN
PROSECUTOR
CHIEF OF POLICE
Other roles played by the four protagonists
EMPEROR
DRAGON QUEEN
GENJI
BOAT MEN
TONOCHUJO
MOTEL OWNER
ROKUJO’S MEN
AOI
Setagaya Public Theatre and Soho Theatre present
The Diver
by Hideki Noda and Colin Teevan
Cast
Harry Gostelow Genji and Prosecutor
Kathryn Hunter Woman
Hideki Noda Psychiatrist
Glyn Pritchard Chief of Police and Tono Chujo
The company also plays the roles of Emperor, Motel owner, Rokujo’s men and Aoi’s men.
Director Hideki Noda
Composer Denzaemon Tanaka XIII
Designer Catherine Chapman
Lighting Designer Christoph Wagner
Sound Designer Paul Arditti
Assistant Director Ragga Dahl Johansen
Noh Consultant Orpha Phelan
The text that follows was used for the production at Soho Theatre
on 19 June 2008 and was correct at the time of going to press.
Scene 1
A Police Station Tokyo.
A Consultation Room.
Enter PSYCHIATRIST. He opens a book and makes notes. He becomes engrossed in the book. The book becomes a mask.
WOMAN is led by guard through police station to Consultation Room.
Scene 2
WOMAN enters Consultation Room. Guard removes the handcuffs. Exit guard.
Long silence.
PSYCHIATRIST
So, what should I call you today?
WOMAN does not respond. Silence.
The Observation Room. CHIEF OF POLICE and PROSECUTOR observe the PSYCHIATRIST and WOMAN.
CHIEF OF POLICE
The public demand justice,
The public are outraged.
PROSECUTOR
We all want to see justice done, Inspector.
CHIEF OF POLICE
So?
PROSECUTOR
So?
CHIEF OF POLICE
So where’s the problem, Your Honour?
PROSECUTOR
There is none.
CHIEF OF POLICE
So let us charge and try her.
PROSECUTOR
You have proof, Inspector?
CHIEF OF POLICE
She is all the proof we need.
PROSECUTOR
You are Police Chief of the Prefecture,
I the District Prosecutor,
I will decide when we have proof enough.
The Consultation Room.
PSYCHIATRIST
So, if you won’t tell me who you are,
Then tell me what you’re doing?
WOMAN
I’m catching the moon on the surface of the sea.
PSYCHIATRIST
And we are where today?
WOMAN
Sanuki Province at Shido Bay.
The Observation Room.
CHIEF OF POLICE
Hours after the blast the suspect was found
Wandering the streets of Fuchu City, her hand
Burnt and raw, her clothes
Blackened by flames.
PROSECUTOR
Circumstantial evidence.
CHIEF OF POLICE
It makes sense.
PROSECUTOR
She does not remember who she is.
The Consultation Room.
Do you know who I am?
WOMAN
Of course, you are the Emperor’s son.
The Observation Room.
CHIEF OF POLICE
So what if she does not remember who she is?
PROSECUTOR
It shows she was not in her right mind, at the very least.
CHIEF OF POLICE
She’s putting it on,
She can’t face up to what she’s done.
PROSECUTOR
Perhaps,
Or perhaps it’s a case of dissociation.
Whatever it may be, in this nation
A person is innocent until proven guilty,
That is why I have appointed
An expert in criminal psychology.
The Consultation Room.
PSYCHIATRIST
So I am the Emperor’s son,
What am I doing here in Shido Bay?
WOMAN
It was here, so you were told in a dream,
Your honoured mother passed away.
PSYCHIATRIST
My mother?
WOMAN
And so you’ve come
To pray for her soul, that it might find peace.
PSYCHIATRIST
The souls of both the living and dead
Must find peace. That is why I’m here.
Silence.
Observation Room.
CHIEF OF POLICE
A psychiatrist to tell us what’s as plain
As the noses on our faces!
PROSECUTOR
He will assess the suspect, then hand his report in.
CHIEF OF POLICE
He’s been with her every day since she was brought in,
What progress has he made?
Give her to me for an hour she’ll soon remember
Who she is, she’ll soon confess
To what she’s done.
PROSECUTOR
The psychiatrist is the one
Who must decide that.
We must wait and see what he says.
CHIEF OF POLICE
The public demand justice,
The public are outraged.
And we can hold a suspect
For only twenty-three days.
We’re wasting time.
PROSECUTOR
The public shall just have to wait.
CHIEF OF POLICE
I’ll see her swinging from a rope for this.
PROSECUTOR
And what if she were your daughter?
CHIEF OF POLICE
I have no daughter.
PROSECUTOR
I do, and justice, Inspector,
Is all I want to see.
The Consultation Room.
PSYCHIATRIST
Why are you trying to catch the moon
On the surface of the sea?
WOMAN
Why shouldn’t I?
PSYCHIATRIST
Because it’s an impossibility.
WOMAN
We all yearn for impossible treasures.
PSYCHIATRIST
WOMAN
The treasures that you seek
Lie upon the ocean’s bed.
PSYCHIATRIST
What treasure am I seeking?
WOMAN
The priceless jewel stolen by the Dragon Queen.
PSYCHIATRIST
What jewel?
WOMAN
The jewel that never turns away.
PSYCHIATRIST
When was it stolen?
WOMAN
When you were just a little boy.
PSYCHIATRIST
I see.
Enter EMPEROR.
WOMAN
And when your father the Emperor returned to Shido Bay,
He asked the pearl diver
To retrieve the lost treasure…
EMPEROR
Fetch me the jewel from the bottom of the sea.
WOMAN
If I do what you ask of me,
You must swear you’ll safeguard our son.
EMPEROR
I will protect and honour him.
Scene 3
WOMAN
So, though it might cost me my life,
I’ll do it for our son.
I’ll take my sharp-edged knife
And wrap around my waist
A rope a thousand fathoms long.
And if I wrest from the Dragon Queen
The jewel that never turns away,
I’ll give the rope a pull
And you, without delay, must all haul me back up.
And without looking back I leap,
And dive –
WOMAN dives into the sea.
And sky becomes sea,
And clouds waves,
And down, down, down I go into the rolling deep.
And there, upon the ocean-bed I see
A jade tower, three hundred metres high,
Where the Dragon Queen lies asleep,
The precious jewel clasped in her claw.
How can I who have no magic power
Hope to succeed?
And what of my child?
I shall never see him again.
I cannot bear the pain of parting.
Press the blade of mercy to your forehead,
And charge, charge, charge the deadly dragon’s lair.
WOMAN charges the Dragon Queen and steals the jewel. She is pursued by the Dragon Queen. WOMAN cuts herself beneath the breast, hides the jewel in the wound and pulls upon the rope.
EMPEROR
Pull hard, men!
WOMAN is hauled to surface, apparently dead.
The broken, bloodied body of the diver:
The precious jewel is lost forever.
WOMAN gasps.
WOMAN
Look carefully, beneath my breast.
EMPEROR
A wound. And there, within it,
Glows the radiant jewel.
WOMAN dies.
PSYCHIATRIST
Who are you?
WOMAN
I am that diver’s ghost.
Now I must go back under the sea –
WOMAN goes to exit.