"The Tempest," Shakespeare's play of sorcery, was originally planned for bunraku puppet theater for the 1991 Japan Festival in London. The script was to be written by Shoichi Yamada (b. 1925), the former executive director of bunraku at the National Theater, using a Japanese translation by Tsubouchi Shoyo, a renowned novelist, dramatist and critic of the Meiji-Taisho Era.
Yamada, however, was unable to complete the play in time for the festival and so "Tenpesuto: When the Storm is Over" was not shown until February 1992, in an Osaka performance directed by Yamada himself and accompanied by gidayu music composed by the Living National Treasure, Tsuruzawa Seiji (Hiroshi Nakanoshima, b.1945).
Yamada's adaptation follows Shakespeare's original storyline but sets events in medieval Japan. All the characters — now dramatized by beautifully crafted puppets, each manipulated by a team of three men — were given Japanese names and titles.
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