Shinkyo Theater Company

Name of the theater company. As the activities of the Proletarian Theater League (Japan) became difficult due to repression, the company was formed in September 1934 (Showa 9) with the participation of a part of the Shintsukiji Theater Company and members of the Bijutsuza Theater, most of the Central Theater (now called the Left Theater). The inaugural performance was the first part of "Before Dawn". Participants included Akita Ujaku, Murayama Tomoyoshi, Kubo Sakae, Sugimoto Ryokichi, Hisaita Eijiro, Takizawa Osamu, Ozawa Sakae, Matsumoto Kappei, Mishima Masao, Hosokawa Chikako, Akagi Ranko, and Hara Senko, and the group performed original plays such as Hisaita's "Northeast Wind" and Kubo's "Volcanic Ash Land," as well as foreign classical heritage plays such as "Faust," "The Bandits," and "The Bottom," forming the artistic pinnacle of prewar new theater and the greatest line of resistance against fascism in the cultural sphere. However, in August 1940, the main members were arrested on suspicion of violating the Peace Preservation Law, and the group was forced to disband. In 1946 (Showa 21), the group was re-established with Murayama at the helm. Kubo and Takizawa, who had already formed the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, did not participate, and the group later split up due to the Communist Party's "50 Year Problem," and was inferior to its prewar counterpart. In 1959, it reunited with the theater company Chugei (now called Chuo Arts Theatre), which had been formed by Kenji Susukida and others, and was dissolved to form the newly established Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre.

[Shoji Sobue]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

劇団名。弾圧のためプロット（日本プロレタリア演劇同盟）の活動が困難になるなかで、中央劇場（左翼劇場改称）の大半に新築地(つきじ)劇団の一部と美術座員が加わり、1934年（昭和9）9月結成。旗揚げ公演は『夜明け前』第1部。秋田雨雀(うじゃく)、村山知義(ともよし)、久保栄(さかえ)、杉本良吉、久板栄二郎(ひさいたえいじろう)、滝沢修(おさむ)、小沢栄、松本克平(かっぺい)、三島雅夫(まさお)、細川ちか子、赤木蘭子(らんこ)、原泉子(せんこ)らが参加し、久板作『北東の風』、久保作『火山灰地』などの創作戯曲、『ファウスト』『群盗』『どん底』などの外国の古典的遺産を上演し、戦前新劇の芸術的頂点と文化面での反ファシズムの最大の抵抗線とを形成した。しかし40年8月主要メンバーは治安維持法違反の容疑で検挙、解散を強いられた。46年（昭和21）村山を中心に再建。すでに東京芸術劇場を結成していた久保、滝沢らは参加せず、その後共産党の「50年問題」により分裂し、戦前に比し見劣りがした。59年、分裂した薄田研二(すすきだけんじ)らの劇団中芸（中央芸術劇場改称）と再統合し、新発足した東京芸術座に発展的に解消した。

［祖父江昭二］

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