The National Theatre. Japan and Europe in comparison I

Despite the global spread of this institution, the term national theater is closely associated with its European tradition. Theater as a place for playful reflection of identity played an important role during the founding of nation states in Europe in the vision of national theater as a means of finding national and bourgeois identity. The nation-state was at the center of the conception of these theaters in the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries, either in the sense of an imperial idea or in the course of decolonization. In the second half of the 20th century in Europe, the term means the tradition or the claim of a specific stage to an outstanding position. Its function is no longer a unifying force within a nation-state, but rather corresponds to a monument to the national cultural achievements of a politically established nation-state.
Assuming that each national theater is unique in terms of its origins, objectives and implementation, the seminar will focus on the genesis of the national theater in its regional manifestations and its theoretical categorizations and on the comparison to the genesis of European and the Japanese national theaters.